In this week’s Thursday Seminar, Professor Schwartz reminded us that the true value of college is not the classes you take, and getting the most out of our college experience is not equivalent to achieving a high GPA. Succeeding in college is a very broad concept and cannot be evaluated easily, as there is not a single, comprehensive indicator that we can use to measure successfulness. As a result, succeeding in college comes is more about getting the most out of that college experience and facilitating personal growth. While almost everyone knows that getting involved on campus and leading a rich extracurricular life is important,  it might seem that putting efforts in extracurricular activities means forgoing academic achievements. Yet Prof. Schwartz found that some people can do both: achieving high grades while being involved are not conflicting in nature. But in order to do both, one has to manage time well and demonstrate the 3 R’s: resilience, resolve, and resourcefulness. Managing time well allows us to be productive even in small fragments of time, which we can accomplish by using a time chart to be honest with ourselves. The 3 R’s are indicators of one’s mental ability to overcome challenges that come across on their way to success. I deeply resonate with his view that college is about personal growth. While my college experience has endowed me with precious technical knowledge and skills required for my profession, I have also witnessed improvements in my ability to manage my time using a calendar and working productively under heavy workload and tight timelines. Those implicit skills will turn out be be extremely valuable in our future careers.