As the clock keeps ticking away down to sixty-something days until I graduate college, I am beginning to look back on my experience. Did I take all the classes I want to take? Did I meet everyone I could have? Am I really ready to graduate? The answer to all of these is no. But that’s okay.
The most valuable experience I have taken away from my college education is how to think, prepare, and live. Don’t dwell on the little things that you could’ve done, should’ve done or would’ve done. For each one of these common quotations for second-semester seniors to say, turn your focus to the many gains and possibilities that college has offered you. Stop regretting and start recognizing the achievements you have accomplished over the last three and a half years.
1. “I didn’t take enough classes”
The thing is you did take enough. If your university is going to let you walk out their doors, you definitely have to reach a certain number of credits. What this saying really means is that you didn’t take away enough from your classes or you weren’t able to fit in those classes that you really wanted to take. While there are plenty of classes at school that I didn’t milk for all it was worth, I took away important lessons from each one and learned a lot about myself, even if it ended with, “I can never do that again.” You do not only learn from class. Remember that time you got caught with beer or that time that you e-mailed your teacher the worst excuse ever for not coming to class? I learned more about myself and others outside of class in college than I did inside a classroom. Some of the most valuable life lessons have come from experiences that the classes took did not teach me. Another important realization is the fact that you can always take more classes. Many schools offer free courses online and there are plenty of local schools and community centers that offer relatively cheap classes—if there is ever anything you want to learn, there are plenty of outlets to gain information and experience—don’t let college be your last stop in exploring new things.
2. “I didn’t try hard enough”
You did try hard enough if you made it to senior year. While this is something I find myself saying all too often, I am beginning to understand that you can only do so much. Don’t beat yourself up for what you didn't do; it just makes things worse. Yes, I wish I didn’t get an F on that one midterm freshman year and yes, I wish I had worked harder on my senior thesis (although I did well). There are always going to be mistakes made and work that falls by the wayside. But along with the times that I struggled, the times that I pushed myself above and beyond outweigh the downsides. Remember that time you slayed that presentation? That time you worked for almost 12 hours straight to only get a study guide done?
Take chances and take risks—audition for that play, try out for the baseball team, take a sculpture class even though you're a math major. Stepping out of your comfort zone is trying hard enough. Your college GPA is not what defines you as a person—don’t dwell on those grades that you wish you could erase off your transcript. Your individual experiences and the knowledge you’ve gained is what really matter.
3. “I didn’t meet enough people”
Do you remember how easy it was freshman year to meet people? No? Neither do I, but somehow groups were formed, friends were made and cliques seemed to have cultivated in the first few days. We were all in the same boat. Each one of us, fresh out of high school, leaving our parents for the first time and thrown into a building with over 200 kids who are the same age. No wonder it was easy. Yet, as a senior, you begin to wonder about all the students on campus you will never know, the plethora of faces that you’ve never seen, literally asking yourself all the time, how did I get to be so old and lame? Just because you are a senior does not mean you are old and irrelevant, in fact, remember as an underclassmen gossiping about all the cool, older seniors who seemed to be so productive and smart? Well surprise, that’s you now! Don’t get stuck in your habits, use your senior-ness to talk to younger students—there is always something to talk about because after all you go to the same school. This may be one of the last opportunities you have to get to know college students with the burdening fact that you will soon not be one, so expand your social circle and learn from others. Go ahead and talk to that person you always wanted to be friends with, there’s really no excuse.
