When you ask someone about college, most of the time you get the words “classes,” “grades,” “GPA,” or some other related word within the overall description. College is important and how well you do in your classes can have a big effect. I’m not denying that at all especially since some of the those classes are designed to prepare you for what you want to do.

However, that shouldn’t be the only thing that you recognize about the college experience.

As important as studying and homework are, the college experience is so much more than just good grades. Think about it, if college was only about grades and GPA, then organizations and extra campus activities wouldn’t happen. Nothing would ever go on and everyone would just be in their dorm rooms or the library all day and while that may be fairly accurate during, say, finals week, it’s not necessarily the case during all the other non-finals weeks.

The college experience is about exploring and daring yourself to do something. I don’t mean that in a stupid, “let’s-risk-our-lives-to-live-in-the- moment” kind of way, I just mean that your college years should also be defined by how much you’ve talked with others who come from different backgrounds or how many times you tried something new or even how much you’ve grown in a particular field or activity. College is a network of different experiences that are open for anyone to try and if one only focuses on homework and homework only, you won’t be able to experience that network.

Think about it. You’ve finished your homework for the day. What do you do now? Well, the answer is, anything you want. Go to a campus event, go on a walk downtown with your roommates or other friends, go join a club, anything. Personally, when I’m not doing homework, I’m hanging out with my five other roommates or going to organizational meetings or being involved in theatre and film on campus. I try to make my personal college experience balanced between my classes and my social life and that’s something that more people should think about. How else will you change? How else will you discover something you didn’t know you could do? How else will you hone your skills in something? How else will you network and discover opportunities?

Again, I’m not advocating for a complete shutdown on homework or attention to classes and GPA. That would be dumb considering the goal of higher education. What I’m encouraging is the incorporation of outside opportunities and experiences whether they are large or small. And if anything, these experiences will create those college memories that one always looks back on.