Attending University is commonly affiliated with the chance to make your CV appear spectacular, to forge lifelong friendships, to experience the youthful student life, to study any degree for the sake of studying it or to simply reach the career of your dreams. Yet beyond the very structured curricular program a typical three year degree has to offer, university has taught me some valuable and imperative lessons that is applicable in life. Having officially completed my undergraduate degree, I offer to you my gems of wisdom that attending university has bestowed upon me; and no, it has nothing to do with the organic synthesis of aspirin.
- Time management
One of the very vital skills in life is how well you organise your time. Not only is it beneficial in managing your studies, but it can appear very attractive on your CV and your job interview. We live in a technologically advanced and fast paced society where we have many responsibilities and tasks at hand with minimal hours in a day, that our initial reaction to such burden is stress. From experience, I had to learn this the hard way. How do you juggle full-time study, on-going assessments, work, research projects, hobbies, attend music festivals, catch up with your friends as well as prepare for entrance exams? Undeniably, there were moments where I stressed out and I was overwhelmed with negative thoughts. I jumped to conclusions saying ‘why can’t university give me more time to finish my work and that I can have more free time,’ or ‘why can’t I just quit work to make things easier for me as a student?’ These thoughts were futile and a waste of energy. Essentially, all I had to do was take a step back, organise my thoughts, set my priorities, focus and address things one step at a time. With wishful thinking we brood over ‘why can’t there be more hours in a day,’ and if there was spare time, then we can complete what is needed to be done in our daily lives in order to go to bed with satisfaction. Unfortunately, this is life and some things don’t work that way. I learnt that sometimes when you have countless things to do where you feel there’s not enough time, the best thing to do is adapt to the time that is given to you. You can’t change time, but you can change the way you think about it and approach it. - Independence
When you were in primary school or high school most things are spoon-fed to you. However, as you grow up, you have to manage for yourself in this world. In University, academics are there to provide to you a brief overview of your unit and then set you with assessment tasks. They expect you to know your work and the content of your next practical and be well equipped with knowledge for your next mid-term exam. But how are we to know what to study when the lecturers and tutors do not provide enough information on the unit? During my time at university, I heard complaints from my peers and classmates left, right and centre how incompetent the unit coordinators or tutors were in teaching. I figured that academics will be there to assist you if you seek the help. If you want to clarify something, send them an email or talk to them directly. If you would like to read up more about the topic, head to the library or talk to the academics where are the best sources for adequate information. Unluckily, not everything is easily provided to you like in primary and secondary school. If you want something, show the independence to go get it. This can be useful in life and in your career where you have to display initiative to manage your responsibilities. - In life, you get out exactly what you put in
At University whether you aim for an outstanding grade point average or not your performance is determined by that amount of hard work you set aside for it. Quintessential in life if you want something, you have to put in the effort to achieve it. If you want to be fit and healthy, put in the effort to eat well and exercise regularly. If your job is exhausting and it obviously strips you of your happiness then quit and apply for a new one that is more suitable for you. If you want to expand your skills and talents, step out of your comfort zone, try something new and work hard at it. Your only limit is you.
-Cowlord 🐮
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