Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka. That has a ring to it. A few months into this place, things got quite busy. My courses are at full pace, and I’ve attended the classes regularly from the beginning. In the past few months, I realized a few things that hugely changed my view toward undergrad degrees and the academic environment in general. So, let’s try to break down some of them.
Firstly, The People, your classmates, teachers, and faculty members. People from undergrad are pretty diverse in their origins and personalities. As a public university student, I’ve realized that it can be mind-boggling to see how diverse people are. So the opinions and ideas that come from a class or a department are surprisingly heterogeneous. This is really useful to a learner because it can give you perspective on something you never thought it could have. Also, in terms of studying and researching personal or course material, this is supposed to help if utilized properly. However, in contrast to my high expectations, there is barely any student-friendly environment, just like most universities.
Time and Regularity, I can’t sweat this enough, how important this is. The only weapon to achieve a great result in your degree is to maintain regularity and consistent effort. Managing time can impact your results directly. For an institution like mine, a little as an hour of regular study is enough to help achieve a good enough result to continue my study for higher degrees with ease. Do not take chances with wasting time because it can roll and create a big mess of a snowball down the hill pretty soon. [attendance][Routine]
Resources and Referencing, yes, they have real value. [Resources] Most students think references to books, topics, papers, etc., are just a professor’s fancy way to show off his knowledge until you start checking them out and using them. Because this degree is the basis of my expertise of the area, and it’s supposed to give you a more profound concept of your topic/course, especially if you are studying pure science or field-focused engineering. These references might get you exhausted, but as far as I’ve looked it up and asked some people with both ongoing and completed postgraduate and Ph.D. degrees, they had strong suggestions about checking them out as they help a heck of a lot while writing anything from simple case study/assessment to thesis and stuff.
Networking, may be the purpose of the primary purpose of this whole long time deal. Majority of the students are here just for the degree honestly. So Getting to know a lot of people will make the career path easier, even sometimes, laid out already before the completion of the degree. Imagine applying for a job where the HR is your club senior, or the recruiter is basically your friends supervisor, you get recognised to be considered for the opportunity just as the job searching process gets much more fluid. So joining clubs, societies, getting to know juniors, seniors and ultimately expanding your network is pretty considerable investment.
Traps such as hangouts, procrastination, unhealthy relationships. The mind at this age is flourishing with all those bright and bold ideas just to be expressed. And being in a relatively tight regulation, a lot of the students get a sudden freedom and idea of independence at this age. And quite a few of them are not well-thought-out, which ends up concluding intoa very bad life choice. So keeping a track of the reasoning, strategies and being mindful is maybe the only way to get out of such traps avoiding huge setbacks.