They say not to live your life with regret but as we often do, we regret. It’s a natural human emotion that we all feel and find annoying or disheartening. I feel the best way for me to get past my regrets is to write them down, and maybe in sharing them someone will find some bit of advice in my words.
When I first came to NMU I had no idea what I was doing. I do not have a fantastical story about finding myself here after a long journey of consideration between colleges. I was going to Michigan Tech for engineering and before I went I decided I didn’t do well with math so I panicked, and then applied here.
My first big regret is my grades. On one hand, I am always proud of being happy with the grade you worked for, but as I look back I realized I didn’t need to miss a bunch of assignments and I could have worked a little harder for some of the classes I went through on my journey.
If I’d get a piece of advice from this regret, think about what GPA would make you happy and figure out what grade you need to average to stay in that range. I find myself looking at my average GPA and I am proud of my work so far, but employers might see it in another light.
My second big regret is taking too many opportunities. I always have been someone who wants to take a bunch of extra work to get my resume as far ahead as I can, but at the same time, as I find myself with less to do class wise, I find myself stacking more into my schedule, perpetually busy.
My recommendation, try to fit in time to do nothing. If you’re like me and find a large gap in your schedule then you want to fill it as soon as you can find something to keep yourself busy. I would recommend, with a full class load, having time for two other things whether that be jobs, or students orgs.
My final regret, at least that I want to highlight, is not preparing myself to leave. I live 20 minutes away and have rarely left the UP. As I find myself on the precipice of graduation, I find that my future will most likely lie elsewhere in the world. It feels like I have to pack up my entire life in a box and leave all I know.
As I make the seemingly impossible task of searching for jobs, my heart twitches when I see how far away I would have to move and I ask myself questions like, is this necessary for success? What if I fail so many miles away from any family or friends who’ll be able to support me? Most importantly, will I have to restart my life?
I think the answer to most of these questions is something we can never prepare for and rather we just have to make it to that point, but preparing yourself, mentally, emotionally, and even financially, is a hard thing to do with only a few months of time before graduation. I recommend talking to some career experts early and plan on your future (ever-changing as it is) to better prepare yourself early.