3 things I wish someone told me freshman week
#1 Don’t be afraid to screw up your GPA. It’s just a number.
This May, I graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a BA in Mathematics with high honors and Psychology. I’m starting a PhD in Psychology at the University of Cambridge, funded by their most competitive scholarship, the Gates Cambridge.
I’m going to spare you advice on the importance of starting exam prep early and actually attending lectures. (Everyone knows you’re gonna ignore that anyways.) Instead, here are the three ideas I could never have imagined as a freshman that changed my life forever.
#1 Don’t be afraid to screw up your GPA. It’s just a number.
Learning happens outside of your comfort zone. Too many intelligent people take classes that don’t challenge them the right amount. They fail to fail.
Those people may seem successful by the conventional metrics, but talking to them is as eventful as brushing your teeth. Or they end up unhappy and lost after college because they haven’t taken advantage of the safe space to experiment and grow.
Don’t stick to your major’s conventional class progression. Take junior or senior classes as a freshman, take MA classes as a sophomore, take PhD classes afterward. Of course, look for a balance in your schedule too. Look for the most manageable mandatory class or section to even it out. Place out of as many introductory courses as possible.
Don’t limit yourself to your major either. Take the famously great classes at your school (ask around). I guarantee you won’t regret it.
And, you know what, your GPA might still come out stellar. So what are you waiting for?!
#2 The most meaningful changes are the most painful. Don’t run away from them.
By the spring of my sophomore year, I had taken most of my math classes and was doing research with a professor. But I felt like there was something more important I needed to be doing that I was just not seeing yet.
Being a woman in math was at the center of my identity. I felt like I couldn’t start doing something very different because I would miss out on getting better at math. So, I started exploring coding and data science — all things adjacent to math.
I felt physical pain trying to let go of that math-first identity. I lost sleep and weight and friends over this. It took me a year to start seriously considering doing a double major in a subject I perceived antithetical to math — psychology.
Turns out, it’s not that antithetical. I found ways to use my math and data science background to explore questions about our nature and social interactions that others could not. Now I’m going to do a PhD in Psychology, and it all finally fits together.
So chances are, if it hurts, you’re on the right track. The trick is to not run away from the pain but lean into it.
#3 Knowledge exists in networks. Become a part of one early on.
You’ve probably heard of the importance of networking. But that’s just a string of phonemes for a high-school graduate. What you should be focusing on instead is engaging in legitimate peripheral participation.
Legitimate peripheral participation is when a newcomer becomes a part of a community by first hanging out on its periphery, gradually moving from doing nonessential tasks to gaining mastery and centrality.
That’s what happened to me in my psychology lab. Initially, I was just hanging around, observing what my lab mates were doing, and providing free manual labor when necessary. Over time, people started realizing they could trust me with more important things, and I got empowered to take the initiative. Now I’m gonna have a little army of research assistants of my own, muahahaha!
If you become a part of a professional team like a lab or an organization, your teammates and mentors will want you to succeed. It’s their team, too; they have a stake in you through it. You’ll have to learn new (and applicable) skills. You’ll make professional friends and connections who will make achieving your goals much more straightforward.
(Bonus tip) #4 Sometimes rules are just suggestions. Dare to bend them.
I’m not talking about academic integrity or plagiarism. Those are solid rules. I’m about all the bureaucratic bs you run into as a college student.
Some classes say they are for graduate students only — that’s usually false. Email the department administration to find out how to get enrolled. Don’t forget to make a strong case for why you can and will take the class.
Some classes say they are mandatory — also mostly false. There’s often a way to make a case for why you have already taken a similar course, don’t need to take this specific one, or something else. There’s a lot of unspoken wiggle room.
Similarly, apply to your dream positions even if you don’t meet all the requirements. Worst case scenario: you get rejected. But in the process, you might just learn something cool. I’m especially talking to women here: men already do it; why aren’t we?!
- Don’t be afraid to screw up your GPA. It’s just a number.
- The most meaningful changes are the most painful. Don’t run away from them.
- Knowledge exists in networks. Become a part of one early on.
- Sometimes rules are just suggestions. Dare to bend them.
There are so many things wrong with the world; there couldn’t possibly be one right way to solve them. So many “traditional” solutions have already failed. Make your path. Take the road less traveled.
Good luck from the bottom of my heart. I can’t wait to see the things you accomplish.
