I am now a fresh graduate finally after three years pursuing college. It has been quite the journey and accomplishment in my life. It is not the end of my academic journey, and I plan to continue to study in the future. My college career has given me the opportunity to collect a lot of things and tips that I had missed while in college, and perhaps I will be able to use them in the future. Here are a few I’d like to share with you in case you need them.
Be More and More Confident
In looking back, I have noticed that I did not step outside of my comfort zone to explore more opportunities in career, relationships, and associations. It was so embarrassing that I procrastinated my curiosity out of fear. Getting to know, joining, and engaging myself in a community that can help me grow is seriously important to me. However, I couldn’t bring myself to be optimistic about who I am and the person I want to be. I sometimes found it challenging to fit in with people from different backgrounds, experiences, expertise, and points of view at the college. Even though I enjoyed it, I was always open to learning from them. I made a huge mistake in not engaging more, but at least I know that now and can’t wait to see a better version of myself in the future.
Practice Focus and Time Management
During my time in college, I executed focus and managed my time so that I could balance all the tasks I needed to accomplish. The priority was study with tons of lectures, assignments, and projects to handle; therefore, keeping my mind focused and managing my time effectively was crucial.
Memories from the first semester like missing assignments, reading the textbook prior to the lecture, not focusing 100 percent, and lagged out resulted in a poor grade. Second semester was the turning point for me as I began to study every moment I could, even on my way to class, while walking, on my break, and when I was eating. I was happy with the results from the second semester after making a significant improvement from the first one.
Join More Clubs, Associations in College
Having not joined a club is something I regret. I could have formed bonds, gained expertise, and made connections with people in college if I joined a club. Nope, I was fully focused on working along with studying. I would suggest that you join more clubs as everyone may introduce you to new career opportunities, and you may even develop some wonderful, close friends who can help and give advice to you.
Spend More Time Discussing with Professors About the Lectures
Most students may find talking to their teachers or professors boring, so they would prefer to do this with friends. I did that and now it’s misinformation that professors would be the ultimate source of information on a course or program and even the current market, industry, etc. I believe some professors are difficult to deal with, but some are open and friendly and welcome the concerns of their students.
College Doesn’t Give You Important Skills that Employers Requires
As a college student, I have to say that lectures were mostly theoretical. Sometimes we discussed what was going on in the industry, did projects, reports, marketing plans, etc. While college does not teach us the skills and tasks that employers out there need, employers are looking for individuals who can do the tasks they need done. What a contrast! While my major is Marketing, I also self-study Illustrator, SEO execution, Copywriting, and other things to meet recruiters’ demands.
Hopefully, my collection of tips and lessons will be useful to you if you are about to go to college or university. There is a huge difference between high school and college/university and you will have more time to study, research, practice, and focus.
Don’t forget to join clubs and associations to socialize more people. The pandemic has prevented me from being in the middle and everyone else from being at the beginning. However, we all got this and let’s go through it.
