Frequently, you will hear these things at the least opportune time, like at the end of the year. Why would you want to know these things after you’d already experienced it? Nostalgic depression?
And oftentimes when I read these lists they are so cliché. “Make all the friends you can,” “Get involved!,” or the best one, “Find yourself!”
1. Purdue is really effing hard.
No one came to college, let alone Purdue, thinking school would be easy. But it is harder than that. Unless you are naturally gifted and comprehend everything immediately, which some of you are, you will struggle. But struggling is good, up to a point. You will need help and there’s no reason not to get it. Pride? You aren’t going to be too proud to show your parents and potential employers a 1.5 GPA so what’s the difference besides making your life easier?
2. Go home as little as possible.
You’re here for one reason: to become independent. You become financially independent by getting a piece of paper that says you are qualified to work in a certain field after graduation. You become personally independent when you think for yourself and don’t require verification from your parents.
Your goal should be to not go home for any reason except a major holiday or an unfortunate event. You shouldn’t be going home every weekend because you miss your parents. When you get there you’ll think, “What am I doing here?” You should be trying to get internships or staying on campus to take classes every summer, you should have fun on spring and fall break or go volunteer, and you shouldn’t be wasting your time going home to see what happened since the last time you were there. After you graduate you won’t be going home, so why are you now?
3. A good GPA is like being good-looking. It isn’t the only thing that matters but it makes everything a whole hell of a lot easier.
It’s sad that we live in a world that holds something as arbitrary as Grade Point Average in such high regard, but you need to accept it. We all know, or all least you should know, that your GPA is dependent on so many factors. You may have bad teachers, everyone else might just cheat, everyone else might rely completely on Adderall, or you may just suck at test taking. To counteract a bad GPA you can get heavily involved on campus, have a ton of work or volunteer experience, or simply just knowing someone who knows someone will nullify your GPA. That being said, it’s just easier to excel academically and not have to worry about too much else.
4. Extra credit is no longer for a buffer zone, it is literally the difference between passing and failing.
You probably used to bring in all the tissue boxes you could or BS as many extra credit problems as you could to stay out of the borderline "A" or "B" range. Now it isn’t so simple. You will now be given large projects or tons of problems worth 0.0001 percent a piece, and they suck to do, but they are what will move your 78.6 percent to a healthy 80.3 percent and you will rejoice.
5. We are a great school because Purdue pushes us hard to get work experience.
I used to think, I am so sick of feeling like scum because I don’t have an internship. Now I understand that getting hired immediately after, and sometime before graduation is a lot easier because we were pushed to get work experience pre-graduation. If you look at any application for an entry-level job they almost always say “relevant work experience is a major plus.” Work experience works in a domino fashion and once you get one, the rest get easier.
6. Use people.
We’ve grown up in a society that compares getting help to the work of the Devil. Use people for everything. Use your parents’ contacts to land you internships. Use your friends for homework and studying help. Use any resource you have to help make your life easier. Just try not to step on the people that helped you on the way up.
7. Meet staff/facility members.
Too few students find the need or benefit of knowing your professors, TAs, or just any Purdue official. Your professors are often researchers with career opportunities and know successful people all around the nation, not to mention they are extremely intelligent and can impart valuable advice on you. Your TAs usually grade your work and normally understand what is being tested, rather than raw material like your professors do, so why not get in good with them too? Lastly, just knowing any Purdue official will connect you to nearly all of them. Think of the benefit that could pose for anything you need help with.
8. Don’t let your campus involvement be a mirage.
While campus involvement is nearly as crucial as work experience, you need to actually have something to show besides a title. It doesn’t really matter the perceived prestige of the organization or position as long as you can speak about what you did. If you did nothing, don’t lie or hype it up more than it should be. The only thing worse than having no involvement is having plenty of “involvement."
9. People appreciate you being straight up with them.
We grew up in the age of helicopter parents and the participation trophy and constant coddling and rewarding. But that isn’t how the world works. People don’t want you to tiptoe around what you are trying to say, just spit it out and get on with it. You will be more respected and your opinion will have more value.
10. Question everything.
Question why people came to Purdue. It will help you understand them better. Question a person’s motivations. Question why the world works the way it does. Question why you have the personality traits that you do.
