The Informed Physics Student

Life

A life. It seems exclusive to being a good student, but not necessarily.

Life: have one.

That's the lesson for today.
You can learn a lot from good movies. Real Genius is probably the most realistic interpretation of college life in physics into a movie I've ever seen. The characters socialize, do wacky things in their spare time, and take advantage of opportunities to be spontaneous and celebrate. In short, they are whole people.
In the same way, students must be whole people, not merely book-learned scholars who never see the light of day.
Now, how to do this with the work load that professors give you is a problem. If you want to succeed in courses, you have to be diligent from day one. Add to this the fact that every professor ever existent "knows" that their course is the only one that you really have to pay attention to and do the work for, and you have a problem.
Something has to give.
In this case, it's you. You must develop a plan whereby you can create the spare time that you can have.
Some things that work:
- slacking in the beginning of the semester, when you can still make up the work
- taking basket weaving (easy) courses to buffer yourself
- a good bit of self-discipline to study really hard, but only when you really need to
Some things that don't work:
- all-nighters which just eventually make you sick
- drinking too much (either to relieve stress and/or at parties)
- ignoring a hard course for an easier one
- slacking later in the semester, when it's impossible to make up large bits of work
Overall, it is possible to juggle and balance your coursework and your life, but it takes constant evaluation of what you're willing to do. That being said, if an opportunity avails itself to do something wonderful (like a midnight hack on the statue in the middle of campus) don't miss out. Just remember that you'll have to pay for your fun.

posted by Pete Marchetto @ 11:47 PM