The eNotes Blog Hey, Seniors! Words of Wisdom Before YouGraduate

Hey, Seniors! Words of Wisdom Before YouGraduate As you mightve heard, our editorial intern Yael graduated last week! Now that the penny has dropped, we asked her to share some advice with soon to be graduating seniors. At the risk of inducing a minor panic attack, we asked her, what would you have done differently? This is what she came up with. Alright†¦I messed up. In my time as an adult (3 days) I’ve acquired a lot of wisdom. As you may know, I just graduated. And with graduating comes lots of â€Å"looking back.† Let me tell ya, there are a lot of things I should have done differently in college. Here are just a couple. Maybe you can use them. We both know, though, that chances are you’ll ignore them like I did, and be thinking the same thing whenever you finish. But I’m trying to help you, here. So, FOCUS. For me, the main problem was planning. I’m not really one for planning, or for looking ahead. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m here to tell you that a little bit of planning is probably important in college. I speak from personal (painful) experience. So, here’s what can happen if you’re stubborn, like I was, and refuse to think things through: You may get dropped from your major. Okay, so I didn’t read the fine print (who reads the fine print?) and missed a key line that said, â€Å"all prerequisites must be completed by the fall quarter of your third year.† Ha ha†¦what? I got an email that said I couldn’t be a psychology major anymore, at which point I cried, and sat (for a very long time) in a pool of self pity and loathing. It all worked out in the end because I am just that persuasive and luck was on my side. But please don’t do this. Unnecessary stress, unnecessary comfort food gorging. Read your major requirements. All of them. Even the ones in really tiny print. You may not be friends with a single one of your professors 😠¦ I may have slept through most all of my lectures, but I just don’t get why my professors don’t know or like me†¦ I was not exactly the best student. I tried, I really did. Even sat up front in class. But something about being inside a lecture hall made me fall asleep, almost every time. This means that now I most likely won’t be able to find any professors who know me well enough or who think me charming enough to write me a letter of recommendation. If you plan on going to graduate school, make friends with your professors. Make them your buddies, and then ask them to write you the BEST letter of recommendation that they’ve ever written. That’s what you should do. Don’t fall asleep or yawn in class or ditch class altogether. Then you’d be me, which means you’d be ridiculous. Get it together! You may leave all your most annoying and difficult classes for your last quarter/semester. You will probably not do so well in these classes. If you can, you should probably just avoid this painful situation altogether. You will have no motivation during your last term. Studying will not be easy. You will develop anger for anything remotely academic. I suggest leaving all your most mind-numbingly easy classes for this term, if you can. Plan out your course-load as best as you can so that you can ensure smooth sailing through your last term. You may graduate with a degree in unemployment. Apparently my university has this wonderful thing called a career center. I’d heard about it but never really explored. There are magic fairies there that help you learn how to give professional interviews, write professional resumes, and get professional jobs. Man, oh man. Guess what? I didn’t go there, until the week before I graduated, at which point they told me â€Å"once you graduate you are no longer eligible for our services†. Fairies, why? Take advantage of these services when you can, or you will likely end up like me: unemployed and confused. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is just a shortened list. A taste, if you will, of my poor planning skills and their consequences. I’m sure you get the picture though. If you need more tips on things to savor in college, feel free to check out this here post. Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck. You will probably (definitely) need it. Have any thoughts on what you would have done differently if you could go back and do college again? Wed love to hear your thoughts in a comment!