While everyone goes to college to get a degree as their end result, there’s a lot more they get out of their experience there. We all want to transition into the professional world, working with our dream companies and getting the most out of our jobs. College helps us achieve that, but it also helps us define ourselves.
As a graduating senior, I look back at the past four years of my life and notice how different I am today. Coming into it, I was nervous and I had all these questions floating around in my head. “Am I sure this is what I want to study?,” “Will this really help me out?,” “What will I do once I graduate?.” Some of us are lucky enough to know exactly what we want and go after it. I, on the other hand, have difficulty deciding what I want to eat for lunch. Therefore, in all seriousness, we have to eventually find ourselves, learn about our interests, and set milestones for us to reach.
In order to start discovering ourselves, we HAVE to allow ourselves to grow. By this, I mean that we have to step out of our little bubbles and comfort zones, and start challenging ourselves. It could be anything from taking an extra class in a field you’re completely unfamiliar with to starting a new job or joining a sorority. This might help you learn about something you really like. Most often, it happens unexpectedly.
We should seize every opportunity thrown our way. This could be anything from studying abroad for a semester, to actually heading an event in the student activities center. JUST DO IT! Do everything! It really doesn’t hurt to try, and you will end up gaining so much more confidence and so many more experiences.
We should always make it a point to use all the resources at our disposal. It can be our college career centers, counselors, librarians or a tutor, take full advantage! We won’t have these resources forever. The departments are literally begging to help us – and we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the help. Additionally, we also manage to build strong and personal connections in the process.
We should also just go ahead and make connections, whether they are academic or just friendly. When we’re at the coffee shop at college, we should feel free to strike up a conversation with a person on the next table, or we should take advantage of our professor’s office hours and get that extra help. The help will not only make us do better in the semester, but will also help us develop a one-on-one relationship, which benefits us when we need letters of recommendation. Having more friends means sharing more perspectives and having a broader understanding of the world. All of these aspects help us grow as an individual.
While these sound a little daunting at first, they really do help us achieve our full potentials. Following these few, but effective, tips, college really helped me open up my mind to so many new avenues. I’ve started to appreciate and love things that I didn’t even know I was capable of delving into. College shapes us to become the best possible versions of ourselves, and chisels us to make it in the professional world.