What is the advice of St. Thomas Aquinas to the students today?

There is an Excellent letter written by St. Thomas to a brother John. The advice is timeless, and applies just as much to students today as it did hundreds of years ago. Here is a link to an English translation, but I would recommend reading the Latin if you know it -- the English of this version is a bit unwieldy.

If you wish to pursue this line of thought further, I recommend a little book called "The Intellectual Life" by Sertillanges. It is primarily a commentary on this letter of St. Thomas.