I started my summer off with a heavy dose of nitrous oxide and four cavernous holes in my mouth. My wisdom teeth had overstayed their welcome, and the orthodontist finally did me the pleasure of yanking them out. For the next few days, I was couch-ridden and responsibility-free. With more time on my hands than I knew what to do with, I decided to write a manifesto of sorts and called it “Thoughts from the End of Freshman Year.” Near the bottom of the doc, I wrote some key takeaways and advice for my future self. I’ve posted this little list below with the hope that you’ll be able to take something from it as well.
Linger after class and get to know your professors. A quote from writer Yishai Schwartz:
The best of what I learned from my professors didn’t come in the lecture hall or the seminar room, or even in office hours. It came in the half-hour after class when most students had dispersed, but a few of us lingered in the hallway. Classes and appointments are scheduled in advance; you enter with a plan and leave at an appointed time … There’s no hand-raising or phony pontification in the hallway. Professors let their hair down and engage, and you learn what they really believe, enjoying the freedom to press and push.
Newsflash: you learn a lot less at 9am if you go to bed at 3.
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."