The (proper) education of the youth is one of those timeless topics that are equally fit for discussion in the finer lounges as well as at the dinner table. Allow me to chime in with my own most significant take-aways for how to make the most out of your time invested in university.
University is not nearly as much about knowledge as it is about networking, as I wrote about in What is the purpose of university? While all knowledge can be found in books and on Wikipedia, which are equally accessible for non-students, it is synthesized within a “forum.” This is thus the most important aspect of higher education. But who to target and how to establish great contacts?
Go the extra mile in interesting courses.
Most ambitious students who feel they have the capacity to squeeze in more hours per week choose to either get a part-time job or participate in more courses. I know many students studying at 150-200% of full-time pace. While this is impressive, putting all that extra energy into one or two interesting courses can result in some very useful consequences.
First of all, you get a chance to actually establish a relationship with a teacher. The lack of personal interaction with teachers is a serious flaw in today’s education system. I would be surprised if more than three teachers know an arbitrary student’s name. But through making the most out of an interesting course you will undoubtedly get noticed and be remembered for being ambitious and interested. This is far more useful than an extra course in your transcript.
Secondly, you get a different kind of intellectual satisfaction when aiming for quality studies as opposed to quantity studies. I’m not saying specialization is to be preferred over diversity, but it is an alternative worth pursuing.
Get noticed by your fellow students, and notice them too.
While getting to know teachers is very useful, I’d say that fellow students should have equal priority for being included in your network. For well-educated people the market is very small; you will stumble upon your class mates in every corner of the world later in life. Take every chance to show ambition and competence towards students as towards teachers.
It’s simple, really. Join different people when doing projects. There is no better way of getting to know people than to work with them; it’s the one way of establishing life-long contacts, both professionally and privately.
Make great presentations. Don’t just throw together the reports — write well and relevant. Answer the teachers’ questions at the lectures. Use new tools, and always share your knowledge with enthusiasm. And while doing this, make sure to notice the other students who show interest and involvement. Those are probably the ones you want to get to know.
Lastly, while university is a major investment and an important step in one’s career, you will want to relax and just enjoy the ride. The overly serious student almost certainly fails to discover that knowledge is all about new toys for the brain to play with.
December 30th, 2009
by Erik Frisk
It’s very true that university is about building a network, even though I think few people realize it before it’s too late.
I would also mention the value of extracurricular activities (societies, clubs, student-run companies, etc.). In my experience that’s where you build the deepest relationships.
December 30th, 2009
by Emanuel
The Author
Extracurriculars are without a doubt invaluable! But they deserve their own blog post :) I realized afterwards that a mention in the post perhaps should have been appropriate.
March 29th, 2010
by Tony
While I can relate very well to your key message (and I reckon it being an essential notion for a successful later-stage university experience) I’d like to defend my case (which contradicts your final remark) with a few remarks:
My experience is that firstly you need to distinguish between the elementary and advanced stages of your education;
- At an elementary stage using a shallow but wide-spread learning net, combined with more-than-usual networking, constitute the most effective method for discovering your passions what borders you wish to traverse in life.
- At an advanced stage it’s not about doing less (albeit I really liked your white time space management entry) but about alignment of learning stimulus. In my opinion the chief reason that reducing/narrowing your courses enhances your learning intake is that entailed activities usually thus provide for a better alignment of your perceived learning stimulus. However, if you are able to diverse your basic set of courses with -aligned- part-time jobs and/or additional courses you might actually find yourself in an even more creative and learning enhancing environment/setting than would be the effect of keeping your courses narrowed.
Furthermore, under rational and logical circumstances, I would agree with your past two entries.
Yet, one is rarely acting long-term rationally. Diving head-first into a series of commitments may restrain your creativity compared to a well executed white time space management or in-depth studying sessions – but – the latter convey a serious flaw: our short-term inner desire for being lazy, cozy and comfortably tucked away on a full tummy and the fact that our contemporary intrinsic existence will always be present within a short-term stadium. It is thanks to a well-functioning brain that we can diverse from this long-term destructive path and your lines of thought strike me as perfectly in line with what our brains might wish for. However, in the vast majority of cases the brain cannot, will not and should not completely out-strip out animal instincts – making a too brain-perfect strategy unrealistic and doomed to implode. External restrictions/demands/pressure provided by commitments assist the brain-force against the laziness instincts, meaning that removing them will likely cause your short-term self to overtake your long-term self.
Naturally, it varies by the individual and I can but contribute with personal experiences. I would, however, like to advocate careful consideration before diving into a white time space management – or you might find yourself with a bit more white space than was intended for a priori.
March 30th, 2010
by Emanuel
The Author
Thanks for writing that comment, Tony!
“However, if you are able to diverse your basic set of courses with -aligned- part-time jobs and/or additional courses you might actually find yourself in an even more creative and learning enhancing environment/setting than would be the effect of keeping your courses narrowed.”
I must admit I didn’t think of this. Excellent point! If I understand you correctly it’s basically about using extra courses/jobs as leverage for your aligned goals. I totally agree.
“However, in the vast majority of cases the brain cannot, will not and should not completely out-strip out animal instincts – making a too brain-perfect strategy unrealistic and doomed to implode.”
Also a very good point. In this, and the white space time management post, I purposefully simplify the thought patterns. You rightfully point out where my arguments are weak due to over-simplification. In my latest post, “Beware of perfect conditions” I’m trying to problematize the balance between a perfect strategy and a real world application of it. Would love to see you feedback there.