Your biggest undergraduate regret

<p>My regrets are about things I wasn’t brave enough to try, too. </p>

<p>I wish I could have worked less and done more ECs – but I needed the money. In the long run, if I had spent more time on one particular EC I’m sure it would have helped me in my job search and career. And I wish I had taken classes in more subject areas. </p>

<p>At my college, a person only needed 2 additional classes to get a secondary teaching license…one psych class and one class that was basically intro to teaching - wish I would have got that license. Substitute teaching in K-12 would have made a great part time “retirement” job. </p>

<p>I don’t regret the major I chose but I do regret not furthering my education with a Masters or PhD.<br>
I also regret not going away to college. </p>

<p>I don’t regret my major, but it was the wrong (type of) school. My parents had too much control. They wanted me to change my major in hopes by attending a full university with various concentrations. It didn’t happen! An art school in Philly would have been the better choice. My parents did realize this mistake much later.</p>

<p>Oh well…all was NOT bad.</p>

<p>I would not have met my fabulous, loving and hardworking husband of almost 23 yrs. (together 28 yrs)! </p>

<p>I don’t regret a thing. Honest. :)</p>

<p>Sadly I have many regrets. I was first generation college in my family and didn’t have a clue. I should have had a different major, used my time better, made better choices, the list goes on and on. I’m glad I went to the school that I did, but I really regret the way I spent my time. But honestly, it doesn’t matter. I have a good job, a nice life and a nice family, but there are times when I look back and wonder what was I thinking??? Of course, I’d only like to do it again if I could go back knowing what I know now. Those life lessons were hard enough the first time.</p>

<p>I was a slacker in high school and for half my college career. I went to artsy-hipster colleges (2 of them); I wish I had been a stronger student and gotten a more traditional, more rigorous education.</p>

<p>Here’s another one: I wish I had sought out more advising on what to do after college, rather than pursuing one of the “standard” options (law school) like many of my classmates.</p>

<p>By the way, this is a great idea for a thread, and all prospective college students should read it.</p>

<p>Going to college right out of highschool, I wasn’t ready back then. I should’ve just enlisted in the Air Force like I had originally planned, but I let myself be convinced by my family to go to college instead. Ended up dropping out a year and a half later…wasted a lot of money and time to have ended up in the Army instead. </p>

<p>I should have gone to the career center for help finding internships in my freshman year. I had no idea that the career center was not just for finding a job after college.</p>

<p>I wish I’d applied for the Rhodes. Seeing the results for others in my class suggests that I probably wouldn’t have gotten it, but I had a real shot at a regional interview.</p>

<p>I regret not getting to know my professors better. I went to a big U for undergrad, and TA’s were the norm, but I’m sure with some effort I could have gotten to know some professors better and they would have known me better. It was viewed as “uncool” to seek them out and look like you wanted extra help or were trying to suck-up, but in hindsight I should have thought less of what others would think…</p>

<p>I wish I had experimented a bit and taken a wider range of classes, including more science-for-non-majors.</p>

<p>I wish I had taken elective classes in the language I had studied in high school. Also, I wish I had taken several semesters of math electives beyond calc 2, even though I was a humanities major and had done more than fulfill my math requirement.</p>

<p>I was offered an opportunity to study in Washington DC for a semester while I interned at a government office. I turned down the opportunity and said I had a family crisis to deal with, and they told me, “you seem like the kind of person we want in this program, can you come next semester instead?” I never went, because I couldn’t afford it. It was probably the right choice, because I probably really couldn’t have afforded it, but I’ve always regretted not going. It would have been the coolest thing, and it was so affirming to have them tell me that I was the kind of person they wanted. It really validated me in my chosen profession. And then I ended up not being able to find a way to work in that profession anyway. What if, what if, what if…</p>

<p>I wish I had studied more in college (and learned how to before going there). I did enjoy my time there. I also wish I had taken another foreign language. That could only have helped my GPA!</p>

<p>I regret meeting my first husband. Urgh…</p>

<p>My biggest regret is passing up the chance to spend a year studying in Paris (headdesk).</p>

<p>I have one undergraduate regret and one graduate regret.</p>

<p>Undergraduate regret: Spending too much time with my boyfriend (whom I didn’t marry - thank goodness for that!) and not enough time bonding with girlfriends.</p>

<p>Graduate regret: When I was in business school, I was offered an amazing, two-week opportunity at a company in Chicago that would commence near the end of the summer (in between the two years of business school.) I had a summer internship with a company in another city, and my boss at “other city” company told me that if I left early to go to the company in Chicago, it would look like I wasn’t serious enough about “other city” company and might affect my status with regards to getting a full-time offer. So, I passed on the Chicago opportunity. I did receive an offer to return to “other city” company full time after graduation, but still regret not going to Chicago company and always wonder if it would have significantly changed the course of my life.</p>