Hello Everyone! I hope you are having a good day. This article is very beneficial for those students who are yet to start their college journey, and after that, some points may help those who are already in between semesters.
Before telling you my mistakes and the learnings I learnt from those mistakes, let me tell you a little bit about my background. So, I have completed my graduation in BCom Hons. from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. Truly speaking, my experience has been disastrous, so I really don’t want anyone to have that same experience.
Topics Discussed
1) Choose the Right Course
I cannot emphasise this on more as this is the basis on which you are going to have all of your experiences in college. If you choose the wrong course, you won’t have any fun in the classes as the subject will bore you.
I had commerce in class 11 and 12, and I scored 96.6% in the boards exam. So, I had no vision in my mind like what I have to do in future, so I did what everyone was doing and I also took the advise of my close relatives. Basically I was supposed to BCom or BCom Hons from the best college I can get in DU with this many marks and general quota. So, I ended up taking BCom Hons. from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College as mentioned.
Now after I started taking classes, I found I have no interest in the subjects being taught like Cost Accounting, Income tax, Corporate Accounting etc. I had a friend at that time who had 95% marks but he took HRM course from CVS college. I got to know about that course from the first time.
Similarly, after sometime, I met a person who had done graduation in travel and tourism. I was like are these courses really exist. I regreted when I got to know that I had so many choices if I searched. That was my first mistake in college.
The thing I learnt from here is even if you don’t know what to do in life, you should atleast know the thing you don’t want to do. Like, if I would have checked the syllabus upfront before doing BCom Hons. just like everybody else, then I could have searched for better alternatives.
2) Groom Yourself
What does “groom” mean? It simply means take care of your body! Go to zym, eat good or protein-rich food, take care of your skin, have a good haircut and beard, and last but not least, good dressing sense.
If you take care of yourself, then people around you respect you more, and you have more self-confidence and self-esteem. Whatever you decide to do, it will become easy. Talking to people becomes easy tbh.
In college, I didn’t take good care of myself. I used to wear whatever I had, no kind of grooming, nothing. But I learnt the importance of it gradually. I learnt that your body and face card actually matter.
There are actual studies that have been done, which show that symmetrical or attractive faces get less punishment in the court by judges as compared to less symmetrical or unattractive faces. Just imagine a criminal who has killed 10 people. What kind of face can you imagine? I know it’s not fair, but that’s life. So it’s important to groom yourself irrespective of whatever you are doing!
3) Being Extrovert
When I was in college, I used to think, I am not an introvert. If I want to, then I can talk with anyone, but there is simply no reason to talk.
I actually used to think that if someone was sitting with me, then I needed a reason to talk with that person, and I never got that reason, to be honest, while I was in college.
There were many attractive girls in my college. Once a girl who was quite attractive sat behind me and asked me something, I replied her instantly with two words. And, there it was, conversation over! End before the start! I regret many such opportunities where I could talk and make friends.
I had one or two friends only. I used to believe in that saying having one good friend is better than having 100 friends. I don’t believe in this saying anymore. I think you should atleast talk with everyone if not make everyone friends atleast.
If you only have one friend, what will you do if that friend doesn’t come to college? or you have some argument with that friend. Also, in mid college it isn’t easy to make friends with whom you can roam anywhere was by that time everyone has their own comfort group. So, I learnt to talk with everyone from the start.
4) Joining all the Societies
When you join college, you get an invitation to join many societies. It’s better to apply for all the societies than to have in mind 1 or 2 societies and apply only for those 2.
If you apply for 1 or 2 societies and get rejected from there then what will you do? So, isn’t it best to apply for all the societies and get selected in 2-3 societies.
In the future, if you like those societies, be in it and grow, and if you don’t like any society, don’t participate much they will automatically kick you out of the society. But by this way, at least you will be in a society rather than be in no society at all.
One thing I learnt is that even if you are not in any society, even then you should attend events. There are so many free events happening in Delhi that we don’t know about.
There are so many events happening in Delhi, you just don’t know about them. You just have to search on google. I mean you should atleast get exposure, college time is for this.
5) Learning/Doing Something Part-Time
More than 90% students have their PLAN A prepared like studying, doing an internship, and getting a placement. But rarely do students have PLAN B.
What if you don’t get placement or whatever your PLAN A is, that doesn’t work out? So, in the 3-4 years you spent in college, you should do something part-time that increases your skills in some way.
Last but not least, you should learn from your experiences as well as those of others. There is a saying that a person who learns from his/her own experience is smart, but the person who learns from others’ experience is wise.