College was a three-year utopian bubble of living with 20,000+ people all the same age as me, all pursuing the same thing.

It was a time of meeting new people, making life-long friends, exploring different opportunities, understanding who I am as a person, and education, of course.

I attended college and always knew I would. Education in the form of a college degree was highly valued in my family.

To give you some context, I attended college for three years, from 2019 to 2022. COVID-19 came into the picture during the second semester of my freshman year.

Although my time at college was condensed into three years and rudely disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, I made the most of my experience.

I knew my time would fly in college, but I didn’t realize just how fast it would go. Now I sit here, over a year removed from college, reflecting on my time.

I learned a lot in college, beyond the academic knowledge gained. I came into myself and started to refine who I was and define who I wanted to be.

Here are the top three things I learned in college that still influence who I am today.

#1 You’ll Never Regret Working Hard

Graduating from college in three years with two degrees is no joke.

I had to take summer classes, winter break classes, and do 19+ credit hours each semester in order to graduate early. I also earned college credits in high school, which significantly improved my ability to graduate early.

Not only that, but I graduated from college with *nearly* all A’s. All this to say, I had to make sacrifices.

I spent many Friday nights and weekends in the library studying for exams or writing papers. I frequently opted to do schoolwork rather than go out with my friends.

I was that one friend you stopped inviting over because you knew the answer to invites would be ‘I have to study’.

Now that I’m over a year removed from college, I don’t regret a single thing.

I don’t regret studying for hours, prioritizing my education. I don’t regret not going to parties, bars, or even casual hangouts with my friends.

I don’t regret the sacrifices I made. And I certainly don’t regret the results.

The hard work I instilled in myself throughout college accomplished more than just my graduating early and saving money.

• It gave me confidence in my ability to work hard for something and reap the benefits

• It allowed me to understand that where talent and skill might lack, hard work can and will supersede

• I learned that there is no replacement for hard work and no shortcut to getting great results

A year removed from college, I know that anything I put my mind to, supported by hard work, can become a reality, and this provides infinite opportunities in my mind.

#2 Be Open and Try Everything You Can

In college, I said yes to nearly every opportunity I was given.

It was the number one piece of advice I was given from college seniors, so I followed it.

I went on spontaneous road trips, late-night drives, and joined lots of clubs, only to attend a few meetings to connect with new people.

I made friends with and spoke to people who came from backgrounds that were incredibly different from mine.

I opened my mind to different opinions and world views and learned how to empathize with experiences I never thought could be realities.

People I thought I’d never get along with because of the vast difference we had, became some of my best friends.

There really was nothing more valuable than the late-night conversations I had about religion with my Nepalese friend, the political debates I had with Ukrainian students, or the experiences that were shared by my African American friends.

I now have a broader view of the world and crave meeting new people with different backgrounds to understand their viewpoints and learn about their experiences.

Perhaps greatest of all, I have a deeper love and value for the world and all the different people in it.

#3 It’s Okay to Not Know Why Things Happen the Way They Did

A lot of my college experience was not at all what I expected it to be.

Let me rephrase that: 100% of my college experience was not at all what I expected.

The fact that my college experience was condensed into three short years, combined with the outbreak of COVID-19, made for some interesting adjustments to my plan.

There were opportunities I didn’t get because of the time strain and COVID-19, like my goal to study abroad.

There were things that happened that never would have otherwise, like starting my first business amidst the pandemic.

Perhaps worst of all is the fact that I didn’t get to graduate because I contracted COVID-19 just two days before my graduation weekend.

The impact that COVID had on my college experience, the opportunities I had (and missed out on), and the friends I made (and the ones I lost) was profound.

To this day, I don’t know why some relationships had the falling out they did. I don’t know why I got some opportunities and not others. I don’t know why I got COVID-19 and had to miss graduation.

I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that life keeps progressing forward despite some doors staying open, some stories remaining unfinished.

Closure from things not turning out the way you expected doesn’t always come, and that’s okay. What’s important is that you appreciate the opportunities and experiences you were granted and continue to take any opportunities and experiences that come your way.

Real Talk

Sometimes I wish my college experience didn’t turn out the way it did. COVID-19 threw the world’s least expected curveball, and it deeply impacted the trajectory of my life and relationships.

The only thing within my control is taking what I learned in college and applying it to my life outside of college.

I’m deeply grateful for my ability to go to college, everything I learned, and most importantly, the people I met.

My time as a Redhawk will forever outlive the constraint of time through the memories (and pictures and videos and TikTok’s) I have.