What I Would Do Differently As A College Student

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In college you have friends, professors, advisors and mentors that you follow and look up to.  With all of that help and guidance it’s hard to say that you ‘missed’ anything.  But for me there a few things that I wish I could have done differently.  Now that I am older and maybe a little wiser I would like to pass down that infinite wisdom to other college students.  I wrote a letter to incoming freshmen a few months ago, but there are always new areas to learn from.

First, take more pictures.  Back in my day I didn’t start college off with some fancy iPhone that could snap video and pictures with a click of a button.  Nope, I had to carry around a digital camera in my clutch.  Sometimes that oversized wristlet did not go with my outfit and I wasn’t about to leave my ID, money or phone at home so the camera was left behind.  Man, if I could go back to some of my favorite memories and just have a camera in my hands – that would be awesome!  I would love to have documentation of those crazy, awesome, never happening again moments.  Mainly for proof that it actually happened and then secondly so that I don’t forget 30 years from now.

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Second, intern more.  I had one real intern throughout college.  It was for a local advertising firm.  I liked it just fine.  It was not what I dreamed of, which is probably why I am not pursuing advertising today.  I learned the hard way, real fast about office politics and why Ms. Big Client’s kid got all of the good assignments even though they were a complete screw up and had no idea what responsibility was.  While I sat at the front desk answering calls and designing the boss’ personal Christmas party invite.

If I could go back, I would have found an internship each semester to do and possibly a second one during the summer months.  I would have not worked so much at a job I no longer have so that I could have experienced more in fields I was interested in.  I could have built my resume to be pretty strong and made a lot of connections in the real world.

That’s it.  Two simple pieces of advice for today’s college students.  Read it, learn it, and then go do it.  Don’t regret your actions so that you can not move forward, but simply learn from others so that you can better yourself.

Cheers!

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Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®, a budget and financial strategist helping families pay off debt and live the life they've always wanted.