For a large portion of students, college is both a blank slate of possibilities and a source of unspoken pressure pushing them to lead, excel and grow quickly.
To help incoming freshmen and current undergraduates figure it all out, five recently graduated students shared their messy, hard-earned experiences and some advice.
How important are grades, really?
Sayama Pospita, a 22-year-old UF biological sciences alumna from the Class of 2025, went to her first Gators football game during her senior year.
As a pre-med student, she placed a lot of emphasis on academics. But when she realized she’d never been to a Gators football or basketball game before and was about to graduate, she saw that she was missing out on her university experience. One of her biggest regrets was underestimating the importance of balancing a social life and good grades, she said.
“A lot of people in college focus a lot on trying to be the perfect student, but they should be focusing on experience as well,” she said.
While finding a balance between academia and social activities is important, Soluchukwu Okafor, a 19-year-old UF nursing alumna from the Class of 2025, said grades shouldn’t necessarily be sacrificed for social endeavors.
Planning out her days allowed Okafor to find balance. It was critical when facing demands from academics, social activities and nursing student clinicals. “Definitely, that piece of advice that I was overlooking was planning your schedules and organizing your day to day,” she said.
Ashni Zaverchand, a 22-year-old UF biomedical engineering alumna from the Class of 2025, said that, while GPA is important for certain career aspirations, it’s often not the defining factor.
Professional experiences like interviews and career fairs better show your personality, which often has more merit than your college GPA, she said.
“I think employers are definitely leaning more toward your experiences over a number like your GPA,” Zaverchand said. “Those things will be what sticks with the recruiter or an employer or whatever opportunity it is that you’re trying to pursue.”
It’s OK to change what you want to do
Alyssa Grace Vegter, a 22-year-old UF Class of 2025 graduate, completed a bachelor’s in business administration, a master's degree in international business and three minors. She started at UF interested in rushing a sorority and joining the school’s varsity swimming team — neither of which she was involved with by the end of her college career.
“Try something new,” Vegter said. “You don’t have to be stuck anywhere.”
By the end of her senior year, she was involved in numerous clubs, including a surf and snowboarding club, skydiving club and a scuba diving experience.
UF is home to more than 1,000 student organizations, and Vegter said everyone should find something that they are interested in outside of their field of study.
“It really opens up your perspective and helps you detox from your core studies,” she said.
Maintaining a good support system
Alejandro Ortiz Lopez, a 23-year-old UF political science and economics alumnus from the Class of 2024, said he wished he spent more time checking up on people and maintaining the friendships he built early on in college.
“Take care of the people that you care about,” Lopez said. “[Make sure you’re] present in the moments that matter most. Try your best to get good grades, but don’t lose a lifetime over it.”
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@thealligator.org. Follow her on X @s_maharaj1611.
