Admitting we made a mistake is one of the hardest things we can do.  It’s right up there with giving a sincere apology.  As humans we tend to be proud creatures and we hate admitting we were wrong about something.  But the thing is, humility is good for your soul… literally.

So I’m taking a step down and admitting that I made a few mistakes with my college experience – ones that if I could go back and change, I’d do it.  I can tell you right now I made more than five mistakes over my college years, but five is all your getting (don’t worry, they’re the major ones).

5 Mistakes I Made During My College Years

1.) Not getting involved.

Getting involved with clubs and sports at school is huge for meeting new people and making connections.  I did not do this well, let me tell you that.  I always blame my shy nature for not putting myself out there and it’s really not a good quality of mine.  It’s something I know I need to work on.  I did try a few times though.  My first year at my recent school I signed up for the film club, the only problem was there were never any actual meetings.  Then the following year it picked back up, but at a time I wasn’t able to attend.  As for sports, I haven’t played on a team sport since I was 13, so that was definitely out.

2.) Not living on campus.

This one is still something I don’t regret too much, but I wish I tried it at least for one year.  From what I heard the dorms at my school weren’t great.  I mean, they weren’t terrible, but not something spectacular either.  I just wish I had gotten to experience rolling out of bed at 8am and going to class in my sweats (not that I’d really do that, but I would’ve liked the option to).

3.) Not applying for scholarships.

This is probably one of my bigger mistakes because… student loans.  I did get one scholarship from my guidance counselor in high school that I had no idea about until I saw it on my semester bill, so that was a nice surprise.  And I can’t complain too much, I did get some good pell grants throughout my college years.  It would just be nice if I had a lower amount of loans to pay back (or none at all).

4.) Not doing more internships.

Especially since I was a Communication major – internships are super important for anyone going into that field.  I only did one during my final semester and I’ll be honest, it was only okay.  It wasn’t great and I honestly didn’t learn much from it.  And it’s hard to find an internship program that will accept recent graduates along with current students.

5.) Being complacent about classes.

You know, the general-education classes that you have to take, but really aren’t necessary for your degree.  I honestly didn’t worry too much about my grades in those courses, as long as I passed with a B-, but if I had cared a little more I would’ve had a better GPA.  I actually missed being able to wear gold cords at graduation by 0.05 points… that freakin’ close!  Oh well, I still got a 3.5 GPA for my Communication courses and made the Communication National Honor Society… so I still got cords, just not gold ones.

And that’s it – those are my five major mistakes/regrets from my college years.  One that I’d like to mention as a bonus one is that I wish I had tried harder to take a study abroad course.  There were a few spring break/two week courses that I was interested in, but didn’t try for them because I knew I most likely wouldn’t be able to come up with the money for traveling.

So for those of you in college, don’t make these same mistakes.  For those who have already gone to college I just have one question for you:

Is there anything you regret not doing during your college years?