{"id":42099,"date":"2020-09-01T07:39:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T11:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=42099"},"modified":"2020-08-31T12:38:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T16:38:57","slug":"the-regrets-of-a-third-year-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2020\/09\/01\/the-regrets-of-a-third-year-student\/","title":{"rendered":"The Regrets of a Third Year Student"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This post is inspired by the Macleans article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/education\/uniandcollege\/the-many-regrets-of-a-fourth-year-student\/\">\u201cThe Many Regrets of a Fourth Year Student\u201d<\/a>! I\u2019m just starting fourth year, so these are my regrets as a third year, aka advice that I would tell my younger self who was just starting university.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I regret: <strong>Letting stress and expectations get the best of me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would say that I am a person who easily gets stressed and that often prohibits me from enjoying life. It\u2019s important to try to find ways to unwind and relax (exercise, creativity, drinking herbal tea, etc). Make sure that you have ways of reminding yourself that there is no need to be so worried about the small things; grades and assignments are important but not to the point that they make you miserable. It <em>will<\/em> all work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I regret: <strong>Worrying that I don\u2019t belong or am not smart enough to participate.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imposter syndrome is something a lot of students experience, myself included. I found myself too scared to voice my opinion in lectures or ask the professor a question because I didn\u2019t have confidence in myself. Your opinion is just as valuable as everyone else's, and it's likely that no one is entirely certain of their answer either. It\u2019s okay not to be the smartest person in the room, your university experience is meant to be beneficial to <em>you.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/IMG_1479-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I regret: <strong>Not investing more time in friendships.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am guilty of being that person who isn\u2019t willing to meet up because I \u201chave five essays to write.\u201d The five essays part is true, but social life is just as important as studying. Friendship is one of the best parts of university, you find people you really click with. I really wish I allowed myself to have more fun with those friends. This year, even if it may be through a screen, it\u2019s important to stay in touch with people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I regret: <strong>Taking networking opportunities for granted.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This goes hand-in-hand with my second regret. At university you have the chance to meet with professors who are the leading researchers in their discipline. You have the ability to go to their offices and just speak with them! Now that I\u2019m searching for references for grad school applications I\u2019m asking myself, why didn\u2019t I ever visit that professor in office hours? It\u2019s such an easy thing to do, especially if they\u2019re teaching a subject you\u2019re interested in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve learned a lot from reflecting on the things I regret, but at the end of the day, we can only go forward. Learn from your regrets, but don\u2019t let them weigh you down!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"886\" height=\"886\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c.jpeg 886w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2020\/08\/D5A65E34-D5B7-4671-B1EB-72AC4B30BC0F_1_105_c-448x448.jpeg 448w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis post is inspired by the Macleans article \u201cThe Many Regrets of a Fourth Year Student\u201d! I\u2019m just starting fourth year, so these are my regrets as a third year, aka advice that I would tell my younger self who&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2020\/09\/01\/the-regrets-of-a-third-year-student\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;The Regrets of a Third Year Student&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2020\/09\/01\/the-regrets-of-a-third-year-student\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;The Regrets of a Third Year Student&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":376,"featured_media":42100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,6669,59,62,1,6480,67,68],"tags":[1905,15882,12407,12740,85,441,27716],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42099"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42105,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42099\/revisions\/42105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}