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by varrock 2926 days ago
I've done some serious reflecting on exactly what you've said. I'm on that "safe" route. I went through the college anxiety, the GPA worries -- all of that was my mantra. To this day, I still admit to being a "resume" builder. I want things on a paper for a sense of achievement.

This scares me, though. I'm starting to realize that is not what it's about. It's about making a difference. Sure, you can indeed make a difference doing what you and I have described. A company needs people like that. But I always wonder, could I have made an even bigger difference doing something else? I'm not even talking about my education. I've even thought about this for sports.

For instance, I grew up playing baseball religiously because I had already invested a lot of my time with it. I didn't want to adhere to anything else for the fear of wasting my time. Here I am, years later, realizing I would've been an even better tennis player had I actually been open to trying something that would've given me more success, but potentially been less safe (starting a new sport in the middle of being so devoted to one already). Here I am, hitting with racquet on every volley, wishing that I had bought into the sport earlier because I know I could've been better at it than I was baseball.

2 comments

I hear you. I believe it's most rewarding, in general, to create your own path.

You will fail. Embarrass yourself. 'Let down' family and friends. But you'll know those that really care about you.

And you'll find out what you're made of. Oh, and have some good stories along the way.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

What matters in addition to grades is personality and people you know. Things stay anonymous in university during undergrad for the most part, but if you are really good professors will start to notice you and then you get invited to join seminars, do internships etc. Especially in intellectually very competitive fields like math and physics everyone recognizes that tests do not really matter, they are nescessarily trivial or test only a small subset of skills you need to do research.