Counselor Edition: What If Alumni Could Redo Their College Years?
They Say They Would Do Things Differently!
We Just Published Episode #300!
Little did I think, 3 years ago when all this started, that we would be here.
Thank you ALL, for your support and encouragement!
To celebrate this milestone, I have pulled together something special.
On my podcasts with College Alumni, I have frequently asked them what they would do differently, if they could go back in time and relive those 4 years?
Their answers are the best example of the past being prolog. Their own college experiences shape what they would do differently.
This should be hugely beneficial to high schoolers, as they plan their own college process and journey.
I have compiled and organized their wish list, and I have curated some as snippets.
The college alumni responses fall into 6 buckets:
Learn More, Explore More
Start Something Earlier
Pay Attention to Relationships
Be Involved on Campus
Experiential Programs
Take Advantage of College Resources
Now let’s go through them - one by one.
1.Learn More, Explore More.
One of the oft repeated themes is taking more classes while in college.
Not being trapped in a Major,
Being a captive of GPAs, and
As a consequence avoiding “risks” like taking a course that looked difficult, or exploring different courses, or
Taking advantage of learning from professors who were world class experts.
In other words, the alumni would like to try different things, make mistakes!
Below are some snippets.
a) Jemina Bouma Perez is a graduate of Rice University. She talks about taking more classes.
“But I do wish that perhaps if I returned to Rice, I would take more classes or perhaps just shop around more to I would definitely would love to take more advantage of those, you know, fantastic professors and just such a, you know, interesting range. Like there were courses like cooking with Chef Rogers like that. I could learn cooking, even if yes, it may not have fit into my major plan.”
b) Ettie Nikolova is a graduate of Cornell University. She would balance getting a good GPA with Learning.
“I think when I was an undergrad, I was really focused on having a really good GPA. Yeah. And so a lot of my choices were guided by grades, doing things where I have a track record of having done very well because I knew I would continue to do very well. And so I think, you know, older me would give younger me the advice that it's okay to you know, you don't have to get an A in every class, it's fine and maybe take a few more risks in terms of kind of finding what particular things interest me and being being open to that.”
c) Jemmy Chayadi is a graduate of University of Wisconsin Madison. Jemmy would explore all that college has to offer.
“So the other thing that I would do differently is just to be able to be more brave, to explore my my passions, to, to have interests, for example, in arts, or, like, dancing, for example, which I've never done even. But I think those are the times when in college where, when I can also explore freely, and we having a chance to just make mistakes and say, like, oh, you know, what, that's really not what I liked.“
2.Start Something Earlier
College is a short journey, when you look back.
The general sentiment expressed is something to the effect of “I wished I had known/done this sooner”.
Because it made a difference to them;
Whether it is a discipline, activity, resource, or opportunity that they stumbled upon in their later college years;
They would have embarked on it earlier.
Below are some snippets.
a) Maya Brooks is a graduate of NYU. She would start in Tech and Entrepreneurship sooner.
“If I could go back in time and redo some things. I would definitely have tried to get into tech and entrepreneurship sooner. I did not realize, I think, how big the landscape was going to be in technology. And I think I definitely was stuck on the fact that like, maybe you had to be a computer scientist in the tech field.”
b) Christina Chance is a graduate of Emory University. Christina would start UG Research in her underclass years.
“100% Yes. It [Starting early] would give me more time to develop my skills around research. I feel like I'm trying to learn as much as I can before going into my program in the fall [Phd at UCLA]. So yeah, I would definitely start earlier. And also, try different types of labs.”
3.Pay Attention to Relationships
College years fly by. One aspect of college experience that endures are the friendships, connections and relationships that you build while in college.
But with so many things competing for your time,
It may not get as much time as it should get.
Below are some snippets.
a) Cleo Handler is a graduate of Yale University. She would reach out to Professors as future collaborators.
“You know, I have some friends from college who made very deep lasting relationships with a lot of their professors. And I think, you know, there are probably two who I'm still in contact with on a regular basis and who I love and admire and like see their work in New York, but I was a little bit shy about that. I don't know why. And I wish I had been, you know, had seen my professors more as, as potential friends and collaborators.”
b) Eric Yu graduated from the University of Michigan. Eric would just hang out with friends and take in all that campus has to offer.
“So if I could go back in time, this isn't something that I would change but I wish I could have you know Oh, maybe another month to spend with my friends at the different late night Hangouts that we had, going to get food at Buffalo Wild Wings, or going around and exploring campus because I think those are some of my favorite memories. And now that everyone's all over the United States, it's a lot harder to be able to create that same kind of atmosphere.”
4.Be Involved on Campus
There are 2 extremes here.
Either a college student did not get involved in campus activities or they were completely devoted to one activity to the exclusion of others.
Both kinds of students feel the loss of not getting involved broadly on campus, resulting in lost opportunities -
Both in terms of meeting diverse groups of people and making more friends,
As well as the experience of the specific activities.
a) Liz Eill is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Liz would spend time volunteering.
“ But you know, there are things that I feel like I would have liked to have been more involved in, you know, I wish that I had, you know, more time to you know, pursue some of those like extracurricular things like I had friends that had time to, you know, volunteer at the, at the, at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Like that would have been really fun to be able to, like, you know, kind of experience more of that.”
b) Dominic Perkaj graduated from Columbia University. In addition to Football he would participate in more campus activities.
“And I think one thing I would do a little differently is I think it would be to try to get more involved with some of the student organizations, some of the different groups, because I felt like I kind of had my head down a lot with between football and school, and really had my head down. And I was just hyper focused on football in school. And I wasn't as involved as I would have liked to be. And I wasn't meeting as many students that were not playing football, that were just students at Columbia as I would have liked to. So I think that's the one thing that I think I would have tried to find to find some sort of adjustment there.”
5.Experiential Programs
There are a number of programs outside of the classroom - including Research, Internship, Study Abroad, Co-Op.
While these are largely available in most colleges,
Not all students take advantage of it.
There a variety of reasons for this - course schedule, cost, lack of awareness or learning too late about them.
Here are some of the snippets.
a) Sanjeet Rangarajan attended Vanderbilt University. He would find a way to Study Abroad.
“ I did not prioritize doing a study abroad at the time. And, and that's one of the things I think I would have done, you know, like I said, it's difficult in engineering, because certain classes are only taught in certain semesters. So, you know, you have to go in a sequence. But there were opportunities in Australia and the United Kingdom and Ireland.”
b) Tyler Gathman is a graduate of Iowa State University. Tyler would take advantage of the Undergraduate Research opportunities.
“…research is something that I probably would have enjoyed getting more involved in. There's a lot of robust research happening, in Iowa State all over the place.”
6.Take Advantage of College Resources
Colleges and Universities have lots of resources and offer numerous programs. What’s really important to remember is,
As a college student you are privileged to have access to resources and facilities and opportunities, and
They will disappear once you leave campus!
Here are some of the snippets.
a) Reid Furubayashi is a graduate of Claremont McKenna. Reid would spend every evening listening to renowned guest speakers on campus.
“ But one of my biggest regrets is Claremont McKenna did this incredible thing, where every, every day of the week, like Monday through Friday, they would bring in a speaker that speaks at dinner, what we call the Athenaeum, and then they you would get a free dinner. And it was like white tablecloth seating, and you'd listen to like an artist, or a politician or an academic or a musician come and talk for an hour. And then they come and sit with you at the table. And it's free. And you can go you get dinner paid for you just have to sign up ahead of time. And I did not go to enough of those. I didn't realize how unique that was. “
b) Miloni Gandhi of UCLA would stay an extra year to benefit from all that the college offers.
“I think if I was able to go back, I would try to stay a little longer. I know the typical degree everyone is saying is four years, but I ended up double majoring and double minoring and studying abroad for a year all in four years. So I actually was not on campus for all four years, I think I would maybe choose if I was supported to do so stay for the fifth year so that I could take a little more advantage of what the campus has to offer. Because there are a lot of resources that are open to students. And once you graduate and you're not a student, those opportunities are unavailable to you.”
I hope you found these alumni responses illuminating, and provide valuable insights for high school students, parents, counselors as they ponder or plot their futures.
Now, let’s take a look at Episode #300!
Finally, A Big Thank You to All for reading this Newsletter, and to all My Guests who have been generous with their time and counsel on my podcasts.
Have a Wonderful April!
Venkat