Attending university, or post-secondary studies, takes up a large portion of one's life. To complete undergraduate studies, the standard course of action is four years. That’s a long time. Four years equates to 1,460 days or 35,040 hours. If one breaks it down to seconds, four years translates to 126,144,000 seconds. A considerable amount of time is allocated to writing assignments, attending lectures, potentially completing labs, and studying for exams or midterms. Framing it in this way sounds uncompromisingly monotonous and conclusive. The experience and lessons that can be found in attending university contradict this precipitous framing. 

Interwoven within and between these standardized parameters is where life unfolds. One can learn more about themselves and their values, through post-secondary studies. To understand the different lessons that can be found in university, I found it may be best understood through consulting the students themselves. One overarching theme I came across through interviewing students was knowing oneself, “The biggest lesson I’ve learned at university so far is that I know what’s best for me. I learned that comparing myself to what other people are doing is only going to make me feel stressed out. I know what I need to do to learn, I know what I need to do to understand something and I know how long it will take for me to do an assignment. I have to make decisions based on what is right for me and not what is right for other people.” said an anonymous student. 

Bailey Young/The Baron

A fourth-year Political Science/Sociology student, Ridhima Dixit, said “Self-advocacy is the best form of advocacy. Always advocate for yourself.” This follows closely in the pursuit of knowing oneself. To advocate for yourself and your needs sets the condition for producing a student life that aligns with your goals and values. To advocate for yourself takes a lot of self-reflection to understand what your needs are, and for another student, this is consistency. When asking a first-year business student what the biggest lesson they had to overcome in their university experience was so far, they responded, “Always remembering the importance of being consistent with my work, my time, and how important consistency is in education.” Building on consistency can be an empowering learning strategy. It can be a praxis to have a greater harmony with your school and personal life. 

Another student’s lesson to be found is “Time management! To get started on things early and make time for yourself so you don’t put yourself in a position where you can’t get things done, or your well-being suffers," a third-year nursing student said. Allocating dedicated time to academics can ensure that you have the time set aside for your well-being, allowing you to do things that recharge your battery. This can renew motivation and energy to pursue your studies. 

Lessons to overcome and learn in university cannot be aggregated into one single method. Instead, it is a myriad of unique experiences that model the people we are today, distinct to each individual. Some overarching themes are time management, perseverance, preparation, self-advocacy, consistency, self-reflection, and knowing oneself. We can learn from the university experience, and its pedagogy, to be a student's tool for envisioning one's future and expanding one's understanding of themselves, the world around them, and exploring how they fit into this world.