Registration for spring semester classes began last week and continued through this week. As I sat down on Wednesday to sign up for classes like Physics II and Organic Chemistry II, I began to think about the future: both my future semesters here at MSU and my future once I graduate (hopefully) with a degree in biological engineering.
As a sophomore about to begin my fourth semester of college, it is time to get serious about my major. Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life? As a freshman, declaring a major was a mere formality, as we all had to take the basic classes to move on.
However, now I am signing up for ridiculously specific classes, and I am beginning to realize that what I do this afternoon, whether or not I do this homework or study for this test, can affect the next 10 years of my life. That is scary.
As a freshman, I would stay out all hours of the night and often skip morning classes because I had a procrastinator’s mentality: “Oh, it’s OK, I have plenty of time to catch up.”
Now, at the end of the semester, I have one test and one final to get the grade I need to keep my scholarships and stay in good standing in order to apply for medical school. The next four weeks will have an enormous impact on my next 10 years.
I’m starting to ask the questions about the future I had always put off because I had plenty of time to figure that out. Do I want to spend another three years in school after graduation and then five years as a resident to become a doctor? Will I, even after all of that, still want to practice medicine as my life’s work, or is there another field calling my name? The future is filled with dozens of questions the present cannot answer.
When I was a sophomore in high school, teachers, counselors and my parents started talking about where I wanted to go to college. I had no idea at the time, but was not worried, because I knew I had plenty of time to decide.
Now that I am at MSU and have picked a major to stick with, my future decisions range from what I want to do this summer to which medical schools I should apply to and eventually, what field of medicine I want to specify in.
Decisions change, along with the implications each one carries with it. Even something as simple as registering for classes next semester gets more and more stressful. The class sizes get smaller and smaller, and you have to make sure you take a specific amount of each type of class so you can graduate on time. The future is turning out to be more stressful than the present, and it has not even begun yet.
The end of the semester brings with it thoughts of what could have been done differently and what I could do now to make sure I end up with the best grades possible.
The best answer to both of those questions is to go to class. Do not start to wind down too early because we still have a round of tests and finals to go. Going to class is the best way to keep or get your grades back up. Seeking extra help is something I wish I had done a while ago, but it is not too late to do so now. When the next semester starts, I will definitely need to humbly seek help from some tutors, because I know my classes will be even harder.
The thing about starting a new semester is it will most likely be harder than this one. If we all go into this spring semester with the idea we will have to work harder to do as well as we did this semester, then we will be prepared if it is harder and even more prepared if it is not.
The key to preparing for the future is just that: preparation. So after returning from Christmas break, I challenge myself and all of you to be proactive in the new semester and do even better this time around.
Ben Leiker is a sophomore majoring in biological engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].