During class, becoming bored is easy. With your laptop in front of you, you can easily surf the web, online shop, go on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even iMessage to text. We know our parents are paying loads of money for us to get an education, but we sometimes forget that and get lost in the social aspect of college. Sometimes, we learn things in class that we will actually need to use in life, so maybe paying attention won’t hurt, but will actually help.
General education classes that your university requires you to take may not be the most interesting, since they are not all in your major. Communications majors generally don’t get excited for math class, and physics majors may be terrified of public speaking. Regardless of your interest in the course, try your best to pay attention. You may learn something you can use to answer a question in Jeopardy one day.
Once you hit classes in your major, you should have interest in what you are learning. If not, maybe it is not the major for you. I get excited to go to my classes most of the time -- nerdy, whatever. You are learning what you will need to use in your future career, so unless you want to be fired or looked at as the employee who knows less than all of the others, paying attention to your professors, and even taking notes, will pay off in the long run.
By going to class and taking notes, you learn discipline and time management. As an adult, these are real life skills that you will need to use for the rest of your life, and this is the time to practice! Unfortunately, the job market is a cutthroat place. Dog eat dog. Every man for himself. The level of competition is higher than ever. Whether it is to get a job, move up to a higher career or get a raise, people will backstab you and try to bring you down. This is just part of today’s society, and although we want to think positively, thinking realistically is important as well.
When you go up to interview against one person for one position, the candidate with more experience and professionalism will receive the job almost every time. It’s a simple equation. You do the work, you receive the benefits. There are the few exceptions of people who slide into their parent’s companies or pull strings with connections to get jobs. But that’s life, and that’s great for them. If we could all do that, life would be a lot easier. But we can’t. So work for your own good.
Along with giving face time to a professor, becoming involved in clubs relating to your major is very important. A resume is not just looked at for a GPA. Hands-on, real world experience will not only benefit your resume, but also you. I joined ComRadio, which is the student-run radio station at our University. When I took one of my required radio reporting classes, I was already familiar with the equipment and was ahead of the game. Opportunities are not available to get this experience just anywhere. At a university that you are paying good money for, you should at least take advantage of all that it has to offer. You are only hurting yourself if you do not.
Understandably, if you fill your schedule with tons of
extracurricular activities and schoolwork, your social life and going out at night may
decrease. Keeping that in mind, becoming involved and an active participant in
all of these activities and classes involves meeting others. Usually, you meet
people who have the same interests as you. This may lead to friendships, as well as those connections we were talking about earlier on.
The moral of the story is this: get involved. Put yourself out there and give it all you got. Most of us only have four years here. And they fly by. Before you know it, you are moving out of your freshman dorm and into your sophomore apartment. And then you are going abroad as a junior and completing your internships that summer. Before you know it, you are walking in line to graduate with your lifelong friends that you met just a short four years ago. The more you become involved, the more lifelong friends you will have standing by your side, and the more knowledge you will acquire. You will only benefit by doing so, and you will regret it if you do not. So, maybe, paying attention in class is not such a bad idea.
