Balancing Classes, Extracurriculars, and Fun by Cole

Balancing Classes, Extracurriculars, and Fun by Cole - August 2022 Scholarship Essay

The first year of college is easily the scariest year of schooling you will ever face. While you may have thought high school was daunting, you don’t comprehend the massive amount of opportunities, classes, and people at your college until you step foot on campus. I thought I had a grip on what I was doing, but I was sorely mistaken. Yet, even though the first year of college is always formidable, I still found I did exceptionally well. I joined a research lab, got all As except a singular A- and a singular B, and worked a campus job. Yet, I found I didn’t take full advantage of my resources at the University of Michigan, and I can take myself and my academics further. That’s my goal for this upcoming school year. I’m taking myself, my extracurriculars, and my connections to the next level to take full advantage of the resources at my college. Additionally, I want to push myself to the furthest stretches of my abilities and knowledge. I see academics as a combination of everything involved with college, so my goal stretches beyond the confines of just my classes or grades.
While academics encompasses everything involved with college life and not just grades, my grades and classes are still important to me. I struggled last year with some of my classes, especially during the second semester. I was dealing with untreated ADHD. During high school, I never realized how big of a problem it was because I was under the strict confines of the schedule and routine of a public school. Yet, when the world opened up a lot more, the issues that come from ADHD began to become more prominent. I struggled with the concept of studying in general, but it was worse for classes I didn’t particularly like. Physics was undoubtedly the worst class I’ve ever taken, funny as an engineering major, so I couldn’t even bring myself to study nor care about it. After the infamous Physics quarrel (spoiler alert: it won), I realized it was time to get my ADHD treated. Now I’m doing a lot better, and I’m far more prepared to tackle any subject, even if it’s boring. My goal for academics is to get all A’s throughout the semester, a target any college student has, but I also want to be able to pay attention during lectures and get the most out of those class sessions. If I manage to do that, I will be so proud of myself because I wasn’t able to do that last year, and it will reflect the progress that I’ve made.
Another essential academic goal for me this school year is to participate in extracurriculars. The University of Michigan has hundreds of extracurriculars, and I feel I would not be taking full advantage of the hefty tuition cost if I didn’t participate in them. I want to join MHeal, an engineering project team focused on health solutions for disadvantaged communities, because it will help me make connections and friends within my chosen field of Biomedical Engineering. However, I will have hands-on practice with the career I’m spending my life dedicating myself to, and it could even help me ace my classes due to the experience I’ll garner in actual biomedical problems and solutions. It’s also important to me to be able to give back to communities that don’t have the same opportunities or privileges that I have. Besides MHeal, I want to join some extracurriculars that revolve around my identity and interests. I believe you should enjoy everything you do and shouldn’t just do extracurriculars that make your resume look better. You are a human being with interests and hobbies that must foster alongside a career. I’m particularly interested in OStem, a club for LGBTQ+ people in STEM, and Quiz Bowl, a trivia competition team. Both clubs appeal to crucial aspects of my being, as I am both a gay man and a trivia lover, shoutout to Alex Trebek, and may he rest in peace. This goal would also make me feel like I’m continuing to better myself and my interests. This concept is important to me after I struggled to do anything new my first year due to anxiety and my general lack of motivation.
Finally, my last academic goal is to let myself have fun. In my first year of college, I had fun, but I felt like I held myself back from enjoying myself and spending time with friends out of fear of disrespecting my parents. They were putting in so much effort towards my tuition and helping me while I was at school. However, I realized that your parents want you to have fun and enjoy your life, and they don’t want you to be a drone who only does schoolwork. Therefore, an academic goal is to prohibit my academics from consuming me and let myself be a young adult who has fun and goes out with their friends. Life ought to be devoted to pleasure alongside work.