I wrote an article a while ago about things I’m glad I did in college, and it only seemed natural to write a follow-up article. When I think about my college experience, there are some things I definitely wish I had done. While I’ve made my peace with not having had these experiences, I know it might be helpful for underclassmen to see a senior’s perspective on their college experience.
- Written for the campus newspaper
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I absolutely love writing. Throughout college, I’ve had a writing internship, I’ve done lots of writing as a communication major, and I’ve been a writer for HerCampus (obviously!). But something I wish I’d done is write for the campus newspaper! It gets a lot of viewers, and I think I would have really enjoyed it, and I would have made more friends who like to write, too. I’m sure it also would have looked great on my resume.
- Taken a ceramics class
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I’ve written about starting a ceramics club in other articles, and I’ve been incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do that. But if I’d made room in my schedule to take a ceramics class at some point, I would have been making projects that were a lot better quality! I love being in the ceramics studio, but I wish I’d taken a class so that I could be more skilled.
- Had a better balance between time with friends and alone time
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I feel as though it has taken me a really long time to figure out the right balance between hanging out with friends, and getting some alone time. All throughout my college experience, I haven’t been exactly sure if I’m an introvert or an extrovert. I love spending time with my friends, but I also need alone time to recharge. I think my freshman and sophomore years I didn’t spend enough time alone recharging, and I felt really socially exhausted a lot of the time. But then my junior year, I think I said “no” to making plans with friends too much, and I wish I’d made more memories with friends.
- Made more friends outside of my sports team
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Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with my friends on my swim team. But the few close friends I have who aren’t on the team are wonderful people too. I wish I’d made more of an effort to branch out and meet new people throughout the course of my college career.
- Been better friends with my freshman roommate
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My freshman roommate and I got along pretty well, but we were never close friends. We played different sports, chose different majors and classes, and had different friend groups. She joined a sorority, and I didn’t. While we got along just fine, it seemed like our schedules never overlapped much, and so we never really hung out much together. I wish I’d made a little more effort to be better friends with her.