The Biggest Regret of My College Years

If I Had It To Do Over Again, There’s One Thing I’d Do Differently

It took me five years to graduate with my Bachelor’s Degree. But that’s not a regret I have — especially since I attended four schools in that amount of time.

No, I don’t regret the number of schools I attended, either. I take pride in having attended a small state school, a large state school, a community college, and a private university in undergrad.

My college experience was amazing. I performed on stage and at open mic nights. I wrote for the student newspaper. I graduated magna cum laude. It was awesome, and I loved it.

But that doesn’t mean I did everything right. If I had it to do over again, there is one thing I’d change.

The College Years Are For Career Exploration

This seems obvious, right? But how much career exploration do we actually get to do in college? I was an English major and even though I write for a living now, I’m not sure how much my coursework prepared me for my job.

And those extracurricular activities don’t exactly translate into professional experience. At least, they didn’t for me. Some people do go on to write for newspapers or perform on stage professionally. But, I haven’t.

I wouldn’t change what I did in college. But I would add to my experience if I could.

Lots of students get off campus to explore the world. I had friends who studied abroad for semesters at a time. I never did that in college (though I did spend a few weeks in Europe studying Renessaince art in seminary).

I remember one time, a few years after I started attending my alma mater, I met a professor at a local coffee shop about five minutes from campus. And I got lost. When I finally arrived at our scheduled coffee date, my professor teased me about never getting off campus and getting to know the neighborhood. She had a point.

College is a Time for Taking Calculated Risks

I’ll give you an example of what felt like a “calculated risk” I took in college. When I arrived on campus my freshman year, I was shy and terrified of the idea of speaking up in class.

But I was also an ambitious student and wanted to improve my speaking skills. So, I worked up the nerve to sign up for a Public Speaking course. I figured the course would be a safe space for me to explore the art of public speaking with other “newbies.”

I was right. I did well in the course, and my confidence paid off. I started speaking up more often in class and soon enough, I was participating in every single class discussion, every day. I loved participating in classes, and my public speaking experience contributed to my overall satisfaction with college.

But there are some risks I didn’t take, and I wish I would have.

You’ll Discover Your Path By Trying Things Out

I took a course in college called The Theology of Discernment. For those who don’t know, “discernment” basically means “figure things out.” So the course was about how to make the best decisions about our lives from a Christian perspective.

I’ll never forget what our professor told us in that class. She said that short of a miraculous revelation from God, we don’t actually get to know what the next five years hold for us. And that shouldn’t be our focus.

Instead, she said, discernment is about discovering what to do right now. What’s the next right action?

In my experience, discernment is an activity, not just a mindset. In other words, I discern my next step by testing out the waters. I learn what works for me by trying things out.

For example, I took an acting class and then auditioned for a school play in college. I got a part and worked hard to learn my lines and prepare for the performance. Even though being in the play was one of the most amazing (and intimidating) experiences of my life, I haven’t repeated it since.

I learned from my experience that acting isn’t for me. My acting class didn’t teach me that. My acting experience did.

You learn what’s right for you by trying things out and seeing how it goes.

The Biggest Regret of My College Years was Not Pursuing an Internship (or Two) When I Had the Chance

I had some work experience when I graduated from college. Among other things, I was a writing tutor on campus for a little while.

But oh wow, do I wish I had done an internship every year that I was in undergrad.

Not only would I have had a more impressive resume when I graduated during the recession of 2008, but I might also have had a clue as to what the heck I wanted to do for a living.

Of course, it’s easy to imagine that an internship would have solved all my professional problems as a young twenty-something. But I really think it would’ve added to my confidence as a young professional.

I loved being a writing tutor in college, and I wouldn’t change that. But if I had gotten an internship at a marketing agency or nonprofit or . . . anywhere . . . I think I would’ve gained valuable experience.

Even if I’d hated the internship, at least I would KNOW that. In that case, I would have figured out what I hated about it. The commute? The work? The environment? The office politics?

With that information, I could’ve taken more decisive action after graduating instead of just taking whatever job came along.

Of course, this might all be a moot point considering there was a recession going on. Maybe an internship wouldn’t have rescued me from years of professional underachievement and indecision. But it might have. And now I’ll never know.

If I can be so bold as to offer advice to any current or soon-to-be college students, it’s this:

• Work closely with your career services office. Introduce yourself in your first semester and stay in touch throughout the course of your college career. They can help you all along the way as you prepare to search for jobs before and after you graduate.
• Get an internship off-campus (or on campus, if you think you’d be interested in something like student affairs, for example). Especially in your last two years as a college student, consider getting an internship. Even working for free (or almost free) can be worth it if it leads you to a career you love.

That’s my advice. Take it or leave it. I could be totally wrong here. Maybe I did the right thing by focusing primarily on extracurricular activities instead of working while I was in school.

After all, I have the rest of my life to work at a job, right?