This past year was amazing—I learned so much about myself and the world, and made some really great friends along the way. University opened up my mind to so many different experiences, people and conversations; I felt like I finally had control over my life, and I could do everything and achieve anything.

Of course, there were plenty of failures as well: from losing the UBC engineering first year student body election, to getting rejected from all the engineering design teams that I applied to. But I learned that the biggest failure of all was not trying. All my life, people called me ‘talented’ or ‘smart’. It made me feel proud, but also it made me think that I could never mess up. Because then I wouldn’t be so “talented” or “smart” anymore…and then what would my family or friends think of me? Anytime where rejection was a possibility, like applying to programs, positions, jobs, I shrunk back. It was a subconscious thing, with me making up excuses to why I didn’t apply: “Oh I wasn’t really interested” or “That doesn’t sound fun”.

“You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take”

It’s a simple and cliche memo, but l learned to not let fear hold me back from doing something I want, like going surfing in Hawaii!

Managing Time

One of the biggest lessons I learned in first year UBC engineering was how to manage my time. I remember the final exam season in the first semester was a nightmare I never wanted to endure. Our final exam schedule was spaced out so that there was a 1 day break between each exam. Since I didn’t really study throughout the term, this meant I had literally 1 day to study for each exam. It was so stressful that I got into a habit of biting my teeth while sleeping, and ended up with a horrible toothache and a root canal. Not to mention back pains from sitting too much. After finishing all my exams, it felt like I had just survived the great War of 1812.

So that wasn’t a fun experience. To change it up for semester 2, I got into a new habit: finishing assignments as soon as they were released. In fact, I was even waiting for homework to come out sometimes (what a nerd). This habit saved me so much stress, especially during finals season, where I started studying a week in advance.

Also, a calendar is another great tool for time-management. I used google calendar to record all events besides weekly/regularly-scheduled homework, like interviews, dodgeball games, career fairs, or exams. The trick is to always include some fun activities—parties, night-outs, — in your calendar so that you won’t feel like there is only more work ahead. This will also provide you a reminder to make plans with your friends.

eDucAtiOn?

Yes I managed my studying time well, but only because I mostly spent all my time studying. I won’t lie, second semester hit me like a truck. Even putting almost all my time into school, I was only able to muster up a high 80’s mark. A lot of that stemmed from me worrying about not being able to get the second year specialization I wanted, but some of it was my laziness to get involved in extracurricular activities.

I got a good grade, and will hopefully get into CPEN, but I didn’t get much out of it otherwise. Learning to get good marks is not really learning, because I’ve forgotten most of the stuff I spent so long doing.

Extracurriculars:

  • Writing for the Ubyssey: I wrote 2 articles for the Ubyssey (UBC's official school newspaper) this year, check em out!
  • Going to my first hackathon (UBC Local Hack Day): This was pretty exciting and I ended up writing this in my personal statement for CPEN. Although my friends and I didn’t know a lot of coding, it was still fun to get free food and see other people’s projects.
  • Playing dodgeball intramurals
  • Going to Moot Court: Moot court is basically a mock trial, where you pretend to be lawyers for a fake case study. It was pretty interesting, except our case was boring—we were debating whether this guy’s stomach fat removal should be covered by medical insurance or not.

Looking Forwards:

There’s a sudden change in pace from finals week into summer—from having a finals every other day, to being able to have time to myself to relax and to do what I want. In fact, it leaves us with the question: what is it I want to do exactly? School doesn’t really leave time for thinking. It’s homework after midterms after finals after socializing and trying to squeeze in some fun and partying. Like my brain was on autopilot, I never really had to think about what I’m doing; I was merely reacting to the work I’ve been assigned by professors.

It’s really scary like that. That I’ve been in school my whole life, but our education system fails to prepare us for the real world. In fact, I’ve been reading a lot of articles where people argue why people who succeed in school struggle as they enter their careers. Because education teaches us to obey authority, to learn and do as we are told by our teachers/professors. But to strive in our capitalistic society, you must be creative, a risk-taker, and think outside the box.

I’m used to working hard, and seeing the result as good grades. Yet there is no quantification of success in life. But there are many times where hard work gets met with failures, and that doesn’t make sense to me because I’ve always had positive feedback when I put in more effort.

So, what now? As Mark Twain says, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.'' My plan for this coming September is to aim for a certain percentage, like 80% average. Once I reach that, I will not dedicate anymore time into coursework, but focus on other things, like personal projects, friends :), family, etc.