The biggest time-waster: Studying. The problem with studying is that unlike past exams in your life which might have led up to university selection, few care about your university grades as much past this point.
If I could turn back time, I would reallocate what little time I spent studying and spend it on careers, sports, friends, and building.
Find a job
University is the time to apply for graduate programs and internships.
- Most careers have a graduate scheme that are open to only current students; simply because they want fresh graduates who are easier to mould to their unique culture
- You have a much longer runway, which allows you to pick and choose from multiple offers that you hold. Waiting for graduation could strain your personal finances and compel you into a sub-optimal job. Job hunting is a long process, often with long intervals between interviews. You might as well let the intervals play out while you are sitting through a lecture, rather than wait till you have little to do in a state of unemployment
- Doing internships will help you solidify your career plans. This allows you to tailor your university experience to the career you want – finding societies and academic modules that support your future plans
Do a sport
Sports are an incredible way of getting to meet people across degrees. It can also be very tempting to neglect your health while in school so a sport (especially team ones) helps to keep everyone accountable.
It’s a huge flex to get a Blue – the requirements will vary by sport – but it represents excellence in a sport in an environment where people are famed for being absolutely intense. Even without the extrinsic rewards, the camaraderie in competition or in crew dates can really bring people together. Surely the trauma-bonding from drinking out of a smelly boot is a pretty strong social adhesive!
Hang out more with friends
Having already graduated, I miss my university friends so much. Those were the days that you could spend an entire day on an impromptu trip to Bath or Blenheim Palace, and then wrap the night up by drinking yourself silly.
It is so critical to put yourself out there during Fresher’s Week and the rest of first year to make friends before friends groups become solidified and immutable. Despite being a Fresher in the dark years of COVID, I managed to get my social interaction in by going on long walks around the picturesque parks of Oxford with my friends. That, alongside a propensity for breaking safe-distancing rules that would make Boris Johnson blush, formed the basis of my deepest friendships.
Invest time in your friends; they are one of the dearest things you will probably feel immense nostalgia for when you graduate.
Explore the unknown
You may have a plan of what you want to do, but don’t let that restrict you. Go drop in on lectures outside of your degree with friends.
Always remember that in University, you are the customer. When you start working, people pay you to do stuff. You are now at an incredible stage of life where you can do anything with little consequences, so don’t waste it doing something you hate.
Build something
Start a non-profit for a cause you care about, or better, a social enterprise that is self-sustaining. If you can afford it, I would always advocate for building something as compared to working in retail simply because the learning is so much greater. Even if it fails – which it probably will, given the sheer difficulty in launching something completely novel and solves real-world problems with limited resources – the amount of stuff you will realise you didn’t know you didn’t know will be instrumental to your future success. Plus, it is incredible fun to build something from the ground up.
Entrepreneurship is complete suited for the student because it is rare to have such flexibility to work on something like that. The proximity to experts in your professors as well as the raw intellectual horsepower of Oxford students are incredible resources to tap to problem-solve and pivot your idea.
There are tonnes of incubator programs that provide equity-free funding at Oxford. Non-profits benefit from a large student population eager to make a difference outside of their academic studies.
In hindsight, university offers a fleeting yet transformative period to explore, grow, and build a foundation for the future—far beyond the confines of studying. By rebalancing priorities and embracing the full spectrum of possibilities, you graduate with not just a certificate, but a journey brimming with experiences, insights, and relationships that continue to shape your life long after you leave.
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