Thank you, I found myself agreeing with most of this post and reflecting on how I might have optimised during my undergrad experience. On the other hand, I note that neither the post nor any comments yet contains what I consider an important caveat:
Taking extra classes is a great way to explore in the sense of dissolving known- and unknown-unknowns (what fits me? what problem-framings am I missing? what tools do other disciplines have? what concerns to people interested in X have? what even is there if I look further?)
Extra-curricular activities also enable some of this sort of exploration. But I’d emphasise that for a competent young person, appropriate exploration, one way or another, is a really key aspect of impact.
For my personal experience (UK) I blended music (!) and mathematics with later explorations in philosophy and computer science, each of which is responsible in one way or another for opening doors to impactful, challenging, rewarding, and lucrative possibilities.
Yes! I’m glad the OP was written and I agree with many of its points. But if I hadn’t taken extra classes, I wouldn’t have taken CS, which I now (because I took extra classes) know is something that I am interested in — and might develop enough knowledge in to be useful (I’m still an undergraduate), from the point of view of the universe.
Thank you, I found myself agreeing with most of this post and reflecting on how I might have optimised during my undergrad experience. On the other hand, I note that neither the post nor any comments yet contains what I consider an important caveat:
Taking extra classes is a great way to explore in the sense of dissolving known- and unknown-unknowns (what fits me? what problem-framings am I missing? what tools do other disciplines have? what concerns to people interested in X have? what even is there if I look further?)
Extra-curricular activities also enable some of this sort of exploration. But I’d emphasise that for a competent young person, appropriate exploration, one way or another, is a really key aspect of impact.
For my personal experience (UK) I blended music (!) and mathematics with later explorations in philosophy and computer science, each of which is responsible in one way or another for opening doors to impactful, challenging, rewarding, and lucrative possibilities.
Yes! I’m glad the OP was written and I agree with many of its points. But if I hadn’t taken extra classes, I wouldn’t have taken CS, which I now (because I took extra classes) know is something that I am interested in — and might develop enough knowledge in to be useful (I’m still an undergraduate), from the point of view of the universe.