I've always struggled with the idea of how to best utilize my time. What activities to pursue, and which books to read, which professors to talk to, and which classes to attend. The protagonist in the German mini series DARK said that a choice for something is a choice against something, pointing out the inherent trade off nature of all our actions. Do one thing, and you won't be able to do another. No matter how much you race against time, you cannot catch up with your own ambitions and curiosity.
I'm doing my second undergraduate degree as of now. And sometimes I reflect back on the time I spent during my first. Although I don't regret much of the choices I made, there are surely things I would have tweaked here and there given the chance. Of course these suggestions for my past self suffer from hindsight bias - I still think I would have achieved more optimal outcomes if I adopted these suggestions in a better and efficient way. And of course for anyone reading this who is in their first degree, this could serve as my honest advice to you. Or at least how I think about the world and what I consider optimal. Feel free to add your comments or add to the list down below.
The caveat here is that my advice is shaped by my own undergraduate experience. It might not be the same for you, adjust the advice accordingly. (To be honest, that's all advice ever - subject to adjustment)
Okay, here we go.
1. Make friends, lots of friends - I cannot understate the value of having friends across disciplines and socio economic conditions. The perspective you develop through conversations and experiences is very valuable. But more importantly, college is marketed as the melting pot of personalities and the place to explore yourself and the world around you. You can only do so much of that alone. Pick your comrades in this exploration, and make sure you have different comrades for different explorations. The upside of this is that your network grows quite a lot, which in turns increases the scale of your utility - for both personal and social uses. Also it's quite cool to walk around your campus and have a lot of people wave at you and give you fist bumps.
2. Understand that learning happens inside and outside of classes - Very important. When we move into college we're transitioning away from the controlled and disciplinary environment of school with very rigid notions of right/wrong, into a much free-er college environment. We often carry very strict ideas of what being a good student means and where the learning is supposed to happen. College is the place where you should investigate these claims for yourself. Test them on the touchstone of your own experience. Don't swing too much to one side unless you've entirely thought about the cost benefit. Understand that missing a thermodynamics class to attend a sociology lecture might leave you with more value, but also understand that attending classes and learning within the walls of the classes also holds value. Prioritize accordingly, but never give up on either end.
3. Read. Read as if your life depends on it. Because it does - One thing that I regret slightly is that I didn't read much during my college years. I do not have to write much to convince you that reading widely and deeply is integral to how you understand the world around you. I've often said that knowledge is like a puzzle and knowledge about different disciplines like puzzle pieces - you can't finish the puzzle without the pieces. By reading I'm not referring just to books here (although I do have a bias for books. They smell nice and are likely to give you more information than an article or a blog). If you have a busy schedule due to other engagements - at least make sure to read articles and opinion pieces. Soon enough when you have more experience in life you'll realise the sheer value that reading adds to your life. I'd recommend actively exploring blogs and using an RSS feeder to accumulate all your blogs in one place. The RSS feeder chrome extension was the best thing that happened to me this year (yet). Look it up.
4. That debacle is not the end of your story - We often encounter failure in college in various forms - academics, extra-curriculars, love, life, friendship etc. A lot of them might be the first big failures in life, probably because suddenly one goes from being in a protective school environment to an environment where one is mostly on their own. Also navigating this becomes more difficult for people who have to leave their homes to attend college. Absence of family support systems is likely to make people sadder and think of losses disproportionately. Don't lose sight of the core principle that this is the time for you to fail. Fail often, fail better. Engage in rational calculus, mull your options, explore further options, just don't stop. Therefore if and when you encounter a debacle, don't think of it as the end of your story - for you are literally just starting out to write yours. Calm seas never made a skillful mariner.
5. Spare some time to think - College can often get very fast paced. With events to attend everyday, places to visit and eateries to eat at, college sometimes doesn't allow for you to engage in deep thinking. But take out time for that. By deep thinking I do not mean crippling overthinking. Overthinking is like a rocking chair - you feel like you're moving but it doesn't take you anywhere. And no matter how much I convince you (or for that matter - even myself) that overthinking is a bad cost we incur, it is natural and thus we are bound to engage in it from time to time. By deep thinking I mean a logical, rational and multidisciplinary assessment. The many experiences you collect during college might not make any sense if you do not reflect on them. Experiences don't have any value in and of themselves until we take away something from them. Think critically about things - not just your own life, about various things, the cosmos, how the metro ticket vending machine works, about people's lives, about the book you're reading, why are you here in the first place, can you do better? What is better? and so on. I know this sounds like I'm asking you to remember to blink - but if you take stock of how much deep thinking you do in a day and about what - you'll soon realise why I'm insisting on this. Also you can only develop perspective by such deep thinking. (For me deep thinking time was when I went on long walks alone, or in a long metro commute. I miss Metro).
I have a lot more 'advise' to give, but I'll limit myself to just five - for purposes of symmetry and information optimization. Almost all other advice is a subset of these themes. I might write a part II of this post sometime else. I will leave you with a personal anecdote that reflects on these five points. I'll leave the how of the applicability to you. You're smart people, you'll figure it out.
"Last year when I was graduating out of college I decided to sit for placements. Just for fun. I did not intend to get a job yet. I only wanted to see if I could land a job if I wanted to. I was graduating in Physics honors, which has a virtually non existent job market out of undergrad. And thus I applied to general positions which had a vacancy across subjects. One of the positions I applied to was for a writing specialist in an educational company that helped Indian students build their profiles to apply to Ivy league colleges. This position was recommended to me by someone who was a flat-mate of my friend in some other college. I had several rounds of writing tests and personal interviews, and by god did they have nothing to do with what I had studied in my class. I was first screened by a junior employee, interviewed twice by two different HR personnel, and then by both the founders. In these multiple interactions I was interviewed about my extra curriculars, my hobbies, what I had learnt from them and what I thought I could do better in. A lot of these questions were multi disciplinary in nature - one interviewer asked me about my experience as a basketball player and what I had learnt from it. In another interview, I was discussing what the essence of truth is. I was also asked about my time in the debating society of my college and if that had any connection with me taking up a non physics job".
I was later told that I had got the job. I went on to decline the offer.
And then while reflecting on this experience, I started thinking about what I'd have done differently in college.
P.S: To whoever made it to the end of this blog, a sincere thank you for reading and engaging with my work. I hope you took away something of value. If you want to connect, I'm available on twitter. Or, you could send me an email at divyanshu3504@gmail.com.
Until next time.
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