Hello, smart person.
Yes, you.
I’ve been trying to find a way to say this delicately, but they say honesty is the best policy, so: There’s no such thing as an easy path to success.
There are courses that you love and ones you don’t.
The courses you love will oftentimes feel easier for you because interest is a motivator. But rest assured, there is no universal shortcut.
Some classes have ten assignments, others have five. Some people work better with many opportunities to boost their marks, while others want to complete a few big tasks and then be done with it.
But the idea that we as humans can assign relative levels of difficulty to courses that require such different skill sets is bananas.
Here you are, just trying to get by with the best marks possible. And honestly? I get it.
It’s unrealistic to believe that people shouldn’t strive for better marks. But this trend of declaring certain courses as universally “simple” has got to stop.
It prevents people from following their passion and actually enjoying their university experience. You might have gotten an 80 sitting in BirdCourse101, but how much fun did you have doing it? You’d probably get the exact same mark doing something you liked if you trusted yourself.
The other day, I saw you sitting in class and you looked bored. You were checking your phone every five minutes, and when you weren’t, your eyes were glued to the clock. You could be in that other class that you really wanted to take, but everyone told you that you wouldn’t get a good mark so you decided not to do it.
And now you’re in the course for birds, but your GPA is plummeting.
I think I understand you on a certain level – some courses are more work than others and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that. But wouldn’t you agree that it’s harder to motivate yourself when you dislike something? Writing an essay might take you ten hours if you hate doing it every step of the way. In those same ten hours, you might be able to finish three drawings for your design portfolio.
I guess what I’m saying is no matter what you choose to do, you gotta like it. Otherwise, you’re doing something that someone else told you was easy, based on their particular strengths and interests.
And taking a course for fun, for freedom or for marks really only works if you care.
When you register for a class, you’re committing to 40 hours of lecture time and at least 30 hours of extra work. Ask yourself, are you willing to give that much time to something that you have little to no interest in?
You’re smart. Smart enough to do anything you put your mind to. But you’re also smart enough to realize that not everything piques your interest.
So if you’re googling “Top Ten Bird Courses at Laurier” or some variation of it, it’s there. But it’s also inaccurate to you.
Going to class and engaging with the material will consistently get you better results than picking something because you think it’s “easy.” This cardinal rule will change your life, and you will be astonished by the things you can do if you believe in your unique skills. Trust yourself to handle the “harder” courses, because you might feel differently than your friends or some random internet stranger.
And if you still decide to take BirdCourse101, then more power to you. But take it because you want to learn about it, not because someone else has decided that it’s “easier.” Your friends will still be your friends after class, and you shouldn’t feel any obligation to shadow them.
We all want a perfect GPA with a minimal workload, but in reality, the best you can do is take a course that you are determined to do well in. That way, you’ll be content knowing that you’re succeeding on your own terms, doing what you love.