In college, you get the opportunity, and the stage to do well in several things, besides academics˳ People flower as speakers, writers, sportsmen, programmers, musicians, gamers and in many other awe-inspiring ways˳ But where should you draw the line between enrichment and indulgence? Or, how do you recognise the signs that you ought to be doing things differently?
For this post, let me tell you about my own experience in college˳ When I qualified JEE and entered IIT Roorkee, I was coming off years of sacrificing my love for sport at the altar of studies˳ I had played tennis and volleyball in school without ever having the courage to make a concerted and determined effort to master these sports˳ Getting into IIT, even with a rank that was below expectations, was easily the most important achievement in my life till that point˳ Having earned myself that leeway, I then proceeded to exorcise the ghosts of under-achievement in what I loved the most: tennis˳
It’s not unusual to find students in IIT’s being very conscious of their lack of notable skill at anything except academics, and the good thing is that most of these people try to rectify that while they are in college˳ Of course, being at the best college in the country has traditionally brought a cushion in terms of opportunities after graduation (that may not be so forever), and so there is a degree of prodigality which characterises the extra-curricular pursuits of IITians˳ In my case, it was no different˳ I set myself the goal of appearing in Roorkee colours at all four Inter IIT Sports Meets in my time at college˳ I got to work with great earnestness and with indefatigable spirit˳ I was spending hours on the court each day, sweating it out like no tomorrow˳ I quickly came to the conclusion that the coaching available to me was not going to be any help, because I had already grown used to what I believed was my own style of play (complete with its inventory of flaws)˳
The hard work paid off˳ My game improved with time, and I went close enough to my goal, by playing three Inter IIT meets, winning two gold medals in Institute Championships, and leading the team for my last two years at IITR˳ I developed a stamina that still serves me well, made great friends, and added a very useful and impressive list of achievements to my CV˳ However, in hindsight, I made several crucial mistakes˳
1˳ I allowed myself too much time to achieve my goals˳ The rate of progress that I attained in my final year was the best, in spite of the fact, that I put in the least amount of time in that year˳ It’s akin to the way a person’s results start coming faster as the deadline approaches˳ Since I had a lot of time, I wasted a lot of energy in a dissipated effort˳ I was not learning as much as I was enjoying playing with the new toys I was accumulating˳
2˳ I achieved less than what I could have, in academics˳ Even though I was always careful about maintaining a ‘good’ GPA, my definition of good slipped with time, primarily because the earlier estimates were becoming more and more unfeasible˳ Some people may argue that if you choose to put your time into something besides studies, you must be prepared to take a hit on your performance˳ But that is not my point˳ My point is that in many cases, it is possible to convince yourself that you are doing something that will compensate for that drop in GPA or DR˳ Once you get caught up in that frame of mind, extra-curriculars begin to compete for priority in your mind˳ And if you think that’s not necessarily wrong, ask anybody who has completed college, and they will tell you that no matter what, GPA’s count, and sometimes, they count for a hell of a lot˳
3˳ I not only under-achieved, I under-planned˳ There is a rush of excitement and self-congratulation that comes with every single thing that you achieve when you tread the path less travelled˳ That can have the unfortunate consequence of clouding your judgement about what deserves more importance in your life˳ Many of you would be talented enough to become very good at more than one thing, maybe even four or five˳ In fact, you’ll see a fair number of such people around you˳They seem to have an endless list of things to do, matched only by an equally bottomless supply of time to do them˳ These people are invariably, never the best at any one thing (exceptions abound, of course, but it is in general true), but they quickly reach a level that is superior to the majority of the junta, and then find other peaks to scale before the slope becomes too hard to ascend˳ If you are one of those gifted people who can be good at a whole bunch of things, give this point serious thought˳ If you are not, even then it will work for you, because you get more chances to find what you are really good at˳
4˳ I spent way too much time swimming against the tide˳ I had always wanted to go for a higher degree in engineering, and that did not change one bit throughout college˳ You would imagine it is self-evident, that to get into good universities for MS or for PhD, you need outstanding grades and, unless you are an IITian (and/or very lucky) a fair amount of research experience˳ I recognised these facts for what they were, but did not aim to achieve them˳ At the end of the day, no matter how intelligent you are, or how well you know your stuff, you must have the right kinds of numbers on your CV to rise above the competition˳ Perhaps you would rather win debates or quizzes or tennis matches than put in, say, even half of that effort into a course that you hate˳ But for most of us, who aren’t gifted, it is still important to know our thermodynamics well even if we want to do a PhD in robotics˳ You can choose to deny the fact, at your own risk˳ I’m not saying that it’s the ONLY way to do it (I’ve done it to a fair degree of success myself!) but it is definitely the simplest, and most efficient way to do it˳
I’ll conclude by saying that there is nothing more enriching and exciting than pursuing your interests while you’re at college, and it serves you well for the rest of your life˳ It boosts your self-esteem, and makes you more capable of learning diverse skills˳ But, there are definite trade-offs that you should not only be aware of, but you should also try to overcome them with planning and foresight˳
Note: This article was originally published on Invenon’s electronic publication get-ahead, the best compilation of career advice for recent college graduates from India by Ritwik Raj our guest writer˳
Source by https://ezinearticles˳com/?Extracurriculars-at-College—Some-of-Those-Nagging-Doubts&id=1055464
