Going over my previous blog post, I realized that I did not share with you what I learned at Wellesley so here’s a list of some of the things I learned about life as a college student:
– Email accounts, Google, Google Calendar, Sakai, Wikipedia (don’t judge me), alarms, smartphones, laptops, laptop chargers and the internet in general are your non-human “ride or die” companions in college.
– A hard drive is a great investment because your laptop will let you down at least once in college (mine crashed when I was writing the first draft of my now-defunct thesis project and I almost had a breakdown).
– When you finish writing an essay that is due tomorrow or the day after, send it to your email accounts and save it on Google Drive.
– Your bed is like that friend you need in your life but can’t hang out with all the time because you need time to miss each other.
– Don’t sign into your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Netflix or Hulu accounts in between p-sets/lab practicals/reflection papers/pages 50 and 51 of a 100 page reading assignment because those websites weren’t created for people who “need a quick study break.”
– Red Bull, coffee, Espresso, 5-Hour Energy and Coke aren’t substitutes for a sleepless night.
– If you’re exhausted, you will eventually fall asleep at a time when you’re supposed to be awake.
– Try to sleep at least 5 hours every night and you’ll be more likely to stay awake in all your classes.
– Avoid falling asleep in courses that are requirements for your major(s) because you will need the information covered in those courses in the future.
– At the end of the year, don’t throw away anything you wrote in a major class (see previous point).
– No, 8:30am classes are not “the death of [you]” because it’s better to end all classes by 12pm or 1pm everyday… unless you find a course that meets once a week on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday afternoon (those classes are God’s gift to you).
– MIT isn’t the only school where Wellesley students can take classes. Check out Olin, Babson and Brandeis.
– MIT classes aren’t (all) easy and you won’t get an A in every class you take at MIT.
– Think twice before enrolling in a course offered by the Women’s and Gender Studies department at MIT just because you want to get an A in a class at MIT. Remember that you go to a women’s college so grad school admission committees and future employers will know what you were trying to do there, my dear friend.
– Do not sign up for a science lab course that meets after 12pm on Fridays because your brain has turned off the ‘In-School-Must-Focus’ mode at that time.
– In your senior year, avoid signing up for courses that meet on Mondays or Fridays (special points if you don’t have classes Mondays and Fridays! #boss) because you will need time to prepare for a crazy fun weekend or do the homework that you couldn’t do on Sunday because you were recovering from a crazy fun weekend.
– A Liberal Arts education will teach you how to write a stellar 5-page essay in less than 48 hours. (But don’t try this with final papers!!)
– Adopt the mentality that a B+ at Wellesley is equivalent to an A- at every other school in the nation and you’ll stop kicking yourself for getting Bs in college.
– Stop kicking yourself for getting Bs in college, period.
– Don’t complain about the food in the dining hall because you will miss said food when you have to cook for yourself during Wintersession and summer breaks.
– Have breakfast every morning because it’s good for you.
– Shower, change your clothes (including your sweaters!) and make your bed every day.
– Never leave your room in a mess because it is annoying to come back to a messy room after a long day.
– In 5 years, nobody (ie. your professors, colleagues at your work study job, classmates, relatives and friends) will remember or care that your GPA was 3.9123/4 in college but people will remember your personality and how you made them feel.
– College isn’t all about stress and academics. Step out of your comfort zone, tell your crush how you feel, take tons of pictures, get drunk with your friends once or twice when you turn 21, cry when you feel like it, laugh at least once a day, apologize when you’re wrong, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and look for the lesson in every situation because there is always something to learn in college.