Tonight, Professor Schwarz gave a talk for the Becker-Rose weekly cafe on how to succeed in college and beyond. His presentation gave attendees a whole variety of useful insider tips on what to focus on in each year of our undergraduate years. However, I feel that the most important message of the evening was that the power to determine our college experience rests entirely in our hands. Cornell offers its students almost every possible resource imaginable – from the variety of classes offered to the broad spectrum of clubs on campus. It is now up to us to actively take advantage of it. For example, Professor Schwarz began by advising all students to get to know one professor well each term, and to shoot for a 50% success rate. With most students taking four to five classes a semester, its seems as though 100% success rate should be the norm. However, reflecting on my relationships (or lack therof) with my previous professors, this is clearly not the case. This rather surprising realization really drives home the point that there are so many amazing opportunities here that are ours for the taking and the more effort we put in, the more dividends it will pay down the road.
Additionally, I really liked the emphasis that the Professor placed on both working hard and spending our time wisely, but also having fun, and doing things that make us happy. I think that this kind of dynamic equilibrium is the key to long term success because it ensures a balance in life and a very purposeful existence. And without balance or purpose it is very easy to fall and get lost!
To conclude my first blog post, I have attached below a mini-list of inspiring pieces of advise that Professor Schwarz gave to conclude his talk. I intend to keep them in mind as the semester continues and hope to make my sophomore year a successful one!
1. Time is time
2. To deal with failure you must have reliance, resourcefulness, and resolve
3. Start where you are; you can’t change the past.
4. Laugh a lot
I agree with what you wrote, Ilana! Professor Schwarz really emphasized how we have the ability to both seize the day today and shoot for the stars tomorrow, which is also another takeaway I took from his talk tonight.
I also found what he said in regards to the letters of recommendation and getting to know faculty well very interesting, as you noted.
Wait, no way, we wrote the same bullet points!! haha Number 1 and 3 are definitely my favorites though. I don’t know about you, but I really needed to hear that going into this semester!
Ooh, I like the bullet on failure. I wish we viewed failure in a more positive light. It can be such so rewarding to be fearless of humiliation and falling short for the goal of learning and changing for the better.