Things you regret not doing in college

I wish I had taken voice lessons.

I wish I had continued my guitar lessons. I wish I traveled more, there are so many opportunities to travel, get paid, and be academically productive.

I wish I could have taken classes I wanted. Too often, I had to take classes that I was not interested in but had to because I had to keep my GPA up. I wish I had taken some language courses, interesting history classes, art and music classes, etc.

more a capella, more dance, more music classes... more performing arts, basically.

i also wish i could have taken more classes that i wanted to take. my major was HUGE and it took me a while to figure out what i wanted to study. so basically all of my classes were science, which was good for my GPA but bad for my sanity i had to intentionally add one non-science class to my schedule each semester or it never would have happened (junior and senior years, anyway). oh, that's aside from my dance technique classes. but those weren't academic; they were only 1 credit.

Studied abroad. Taken more interesting anthropology courses.

Definitely wish I studied abroad.

take the bare-minimum you can in your science related major. you'll have the rest of your life to focus on science if you're going to be a doctor.

I wish I would have taken language classes and learned a 2nd language. I also wish I would have taken some more european history and art history classes

Wish I would have gone out with that one guy instead of setting him up with my roommate.

Wish I continued competitive swimming at the college I transferred to.

I wish I had started research much, much earlier and tried for the goldwater.

also, I wish I had put my heart into it and become fluent in Spanish and chinese.

I wish I had:

-taken some intro to photography classes.


(I did study abroad and take voice lessons like others have suggested. Studying abroad was the best thing in college that I did. Voice lessons were fun, but not as useful as photography would be.)

Dedicated myself more to guitar.

I wish I would have stayed on campus more often, instead of going home every other weekend. I wish I would have had a manage(college may be your last chance). Probably some other things I cant think of, oh wish I would have pledged my fraternity earlier. Other then that I graduated summa cum and made deans list every semester, cant complain..

i wish i had smoked more weed. what a great drug. srsly.

I wish I'd spent at least a semester studying abroad, and I wish I'd taken both Spanish and French to the point of being able to communicate conversationally...

i wish i saw r kelly on concert. i know the people that go to them are really young but if theres grass

sky diving/base jumping. I still have 2 more years in college left, so I think I will go next summer.

Wish I had spent more time exploring stuff I loved and doing them.

I wish I had done more research.

Omni said:

sky diving/base jumping. I still have 2 more years in college left, so I think I will go next summer.

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I am planning on going sky diving this summer =D I am both excited and scared to death.

I would have taken out loans and stayed on campus instead of commuting. I just moved in to my first house and after two weeks it's already the best time of my life. I get to have fun and study. It's like an extra 3 hours are added to my day.

I regret nothing.

Best of luck to you

EulerianCircuit said:

I wish I had done more research.

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get a girlfriend. live a little.

I pretty much wish that I waited on starting college instead of jumping right in and finding it wasn't the right time. Had I waited some I wouldn't be spending so much time trying to repair the stupid mistakes I made when I was younger.

By suggestion for all you students just starting college, don't go for the hard science majors unless that is where you passion lies. If you enjoy it, great...go for it...but for those of you aren't, go towards your passion and take your prereqs on the side.

TooMuchResearch said:

I regret nothing.

Best of luck to you

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Good for you.

I wish I would have majored in Physics and Math. I find biology relatively boring, but it's a safe path to getting an awesome GPA. I also didn't know I was so interested in those two subjects until i got to college and had a chance to take some courses.

study abroad!

the chick that sat next to me one day during history class

Going abroad was awesome. Everyone should do that.

My freshman year I was eying this 2 month-long internship to Antarctica to collect ice core samples with our geology department. I knew nothing about geology, or ice, but it just sounded bad*ss. I was approved, but turned it down to stay "On-track" with the whole pre-med thing....and to stay close to someone who I know count among my ex's.

I still kick myself for not throwing everything to the wind, and going. Probably would've made for an awesome interview topic too...

Don't let anything hold you back from pursuing something that interests you, even the carefully laid out plans you've made (or will make) for yourself.

Oh, also, trying out for the club baseball team. Looking back on it, I actually probably had a decent shot as an outfielder.

amakhosidlo said:

My freshman year I was eying this 2 month-long internship to Antarctica to collect ice core samples with our geology department.

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That would have been a cool experience. where is my geology department when I want to go to Antarctica!

mmmcdowe said:

I'm with this poster, I am absolutely satisfied with what I did. Stop trying to be the perfect pre-med, be happy and it'll work out anyways. That's basically what every poster's wishes were, to have done things they had wanted to do more.

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This pretty much sums it up. Would I change anything? Maybe, but again, I regret nothing. My advice: Major in something that interests you. Study abroad if not too inconvenient. Volunteer if it interests you. Conduct research if you are inquisitive. Are you a campus leader? Then show rather than tell. Avoid those activities in which you have no interest. Apply broadly.

I wish I had been more of a prick busybody premed and asked people their stats so I could feel better about myself...

- Study abroad
- Fluency in spanish
- Research earlier
- Gone out more in my sophomore and junior year (freshman and senior year were fine)
- Most of all, I wish I had continued going to the gym regularly like I used to in high school. I recently started this up again and it's depressing how horrible the shape I'm in now is.

Two chicks at the same time.

Umm, I regret not trying at all my first year so I had to kill myself the next 3. I wish I had started cycling a year earlier, and I wish I had done shrooms

I regret I didn't take the EC's seriously enough until junior year. I also should've taken at least one class a semester that I really wanted too or at least paid attention on those Gen. Ed. classes that are mandatory. In addition I think the social aspect is something I regretted the most. After getting used to not hanging out that much, I sometimes would prefer to not hangout even if I had free time. That of course changed later on but it definitely would've helped back in freshman year. Finally, just being caught up with the whole pre-med frenzy. I would constantly think about doing well and plan for the future but would'nt "seize the moment" and just enjoy myself. But I am working on all of this for senior year at least! =)

I regret majoring in biology & math instead of physics & math.
Bio: Preciuos time wasted in memorization. Learnt little to nothing.

I wish I had stayed in touch with some of the good friends I made along the way. I spent a lot of my time in college trying to figure out which hobbies, sports, etc I liked the most and I had an unfortunate habit of abandoning the people along with the old abandoned hobbies. As a result, I left behind some good friends from my first two years, and I do regret that.

URHere said:

I wish I had stayed in touch with some of the good friends I made along the way. I spent a lot of my time in college trying to figure out which hobbies, sports, etc I liked the most and I had an unfortunate habit of abandoning the people along with the old abandoned hobbies. As a result, I left behind some good friends from my first two years, and I do regret that.

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I think this is true for everyone and it kinda sucks. Do you fear the same for med school as you have to go into grad school while your peers go into rotations?

Like a lot of other posters said, I really wish I had taken advantage of my school's study abroad programs. I also wish that I had taken on a second major in economics, since it's always been really interesting to me. Mostly though, I really wish I'd have just chilled out and enjoyed everything more. College was such an amazing, unique experience and I don't really feel like I fully appreciated that or took advantage of everything that was available to me there, in terms of social stuff as well as cultural and artistic stuff (my school also had amazing music and theater programs). But seriously, really just relax. Whenever somebody invites you to do something, say yes. You'll be exposed to a wealth of opportunities that you won't truly appreciate until you're done.

witness23 said:

I think this is true for everyone and it kinda sucks. Do you fear the same for med school as you have to go into grad school while your peers go into rotations?

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That point is still on the (rapidly approaching) horizon for me, but I can't imagine that my relationships with my peers will be the same two years from now as they are today. As much as we try not to, medical students tend to talk about medical things when you get us together in a large group, and after next year my peers will be saying something that I just can't relate to. When their match day comes around, I won't be able to celebrate with them, and I'm sure my own bitterness won't help the situation any.

However, this is one shift that I can see coming, and I can try to fight against it. I really hope that I can maintain my relationships with the friends I have in my class. If nothing else, I'll try harder than I did in college, and hopefully that will make all of the difference.

...majored or minored in business for my premed track. It is so relevant to the field these days, especially if you are going to start your own practice.

...wind surfed more.

I wouldn't say I regret taking an extra semester, but I wish I'd graduated at the normal time with all my friends. Other than that, I had a fantastic college experience. Idon't think I missed out on much, if anything.

secants said:

Finally, just being caught up with the whole pre-med frenzy. I would constantly think about doing well and plan for the future but would'nt "seize the moment" and just enjoy myself. But I am working on all of this for senior year at least! =)

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Ditto. I wish I had taken more time to enjoy the present instead of worry so much about what lies ahead. That's something I am looking to work on for my senior yr.

I also wish I had come in as a history major instead of a bio major.

I don't have too many regrets in college... I chose against studying abroad for instance because I wanted to start being premed (masochistic I know). I had actually paid the deposit to study abroad for a year in Japan, but at the last minute backed out because I needed to figure out wtf was going on with my life. I've never regretted that decision, but I still would like to travel abroad.. I'm trying to figure how to make that happen on my year off currently.

Wish I had done more of the things that were heavily subsidized by the school and that are out of my price range now that I'm not in college:

Pilot's lisence
Sky Diving
Sailing
Study abroad


I wish I hadn't wasted my first summer of college. Study abroad, or something. If you're planning going to med school one day you should be smart enough to realize your HS friends suck without going home and finding out first hand.

Finally, and this isn't a regret since I did do it, but I seriously recommend you join a fraternity/sorority. At least go to rush and seriously consider it. I did all kinds of crap in college, but looking back that's where most of my best memories, stories, and friends came from.