Making the most of your undergrad life

If you're someone who's about to start your undergrad journey, people around you will tell you that the next four or five years will be the most important ones of your life. They'll emphasise several things including the need for you to study, make friends and memories, plan a career and future, grow as a person, and so on. In short, as you step into your undergrad life, you're expected to make the most out of it.

However, while everyone suggests that you make the most of your undergrad life, no one really tells you how to do it. So, how exactly do you go about this?

For starters, assuming you're satisfied with the degree program you've enrolled in, you must first plan your academic courses. 

Public universities in our country usually follow a fixed-credit system, so your semester-by-semester curriculum is already pre-decided and you don't have to select individual courses. For private universities, you'll have to sit for course advising sessions where you'll get to pick your courses as required for your degree. 

How many courses you take each semester is entirely up to you. Don't burden yourself with too many courses unless you think you can handle the pressure. Apart from midterms and finals, you'll also have to deal with class tests or quizzes, assignments, projects, presentations, and maybe even lab work.  

Such planning and how to do it efficiently will take some time to get used to, but within a couple of semesters, you should be able to get used to it. After that, picking your courses and course load each semester will become much easier. 

This takes care of handling your basic academics. Once classes start, you can slowly ease into the coursework and other requirements for completing the respective courses.

With that out of the way, let's talk about another key aspect that's a must during your undergrad life – making friends and memories. 

In most cases, you'll enter your university without any of your friends from school or college, meaning you cannot but make new friends. It'll of course be hard – meeting new people and bonding with them can feel pretty daunting. Some of you might even consider not making friends at all, but it won't do you any good. Apart from making fun new memories and the aspect of friendship itself, you also need to make friends and acquaintances for your own good.  

"The leisure of chilling at tongs, occasional lunches at local restaurants and going to the movies every once in a while was a practice for me and my friends, but I've come to understand that we also felt a sense of responsibility to one another," says Afia Fahmida Rahman, currently working as a software engineering in Dhaka, "This sense of wanting for our friends usually comes from what we want for ourselves individually – good grades, growth, emotional support. I cannot be the greatest critique of how much I've been able to help my friends, they will be the judge of that, but what I can say is that the constant relationship that we have maintained ever since the beginning of our undergrad life has helped me create very strong bonds with some of the most amazing people who have not only been there for me during undergrad life but have also been there for me afterwards."

"Students shouldn't be forming friendships just to get some sort of result at the end of their graduation," adds Afia, "Rather they should allow themselves to stick to people who help them grow with the intent of developing bonds that would last a lifetime. The perks would come eventually without having to ask for them."

If making friends at university feels challenging, you can always join a club. Of course, the club you join should also align with your interests as it serves a bigger purpose than just being a place for you to make friends. 

"Being part of a university club not only helped me make new friends, but it also allowed me to realise my own strengths and weaknesses," explains Abdullah, a recent graduate of Brac University, "It also helped me develop certain soft skills which I know will help me later on in my professional life."

During your undergrad, it's also important that you build a good rapport with some of your university professors. However, don't be forceful about it. Let it happen naturally, which was the case for Afia. All she had to do was stay accountable and maintain communication with the professors as needed. 

"By maintaining a good rapport with your professor, you will be able to ask for recommendation letters for your postgrad abroad, and also allow your professor to have a ground of respect to give you better feedback on yourself and how you could advance in the upcoming ventures of your life," says Afia, "You'll also be allowing yourself to accept validation from your professor which will allow you to understand if you're on the right track."

Design: Faisal Bin Iqbal

Many students also try to start earning when they're in their undergrads, mostly through part-time jobs or tuition. You might consider doing so yourself but know that this too comes at a cost as explained by Sakib Al Mahmud, a recent graduate of Dhaka University.

"I had to spend nine hours a week on tuition, which took a lot of my time and energy, mostly because of the commutes I had to make," says Sakib, "On the days I had tuition I would be tired by the time I got home, so I avoided studying on those days."

"I planned my tuition around the weekends so that I would be able to avoid traffic jams and be less tired in the process," adds Sakib. "This, however, came with the cost that I wouldn't be able to enjoy most of my weekends."

This goes to show that if you're committing to something separate from your university life, there must be a trade-off. Whether it be missing a hangout for tuition or ditching a relative's wedding for upcoming exams, these trade-offs will always be there. However, whatever this trade-off is, the key is to have no regrets later on, because they will hold you back from moving forward with your university life and life in general.

Having said all that, it's unlikely that you'll spend your entire undergrad life without making any mistakes. In fact, I'd say your undergrad life will be incomplete if you didn't make any. 

Mistakes can come in all sorts of forms – choosing the wrong major, not joining any club or forum, missing assignment and project deadlines, taking too many courses in one semester, and so on. 

Whatever mistake you make is the result of a decision you took, and it will only haunt you if you regret that decision later on. However, regrets will do you no good, especially once you're done with your undergrad. They will only hold you down, which is why it's best that you accept what happened and move on with no regrets. Only then will you be able to feel that you have made the most of your undergrad life.

Faisal Bin Iqbal is a sub-editor at Campus.