Although my mind doesn’t always look like this, I think this beautifully artistic graphic represents my priorities pretty accurately. Of course, school and studying will almost always take top priority for me. UCI offers some really amazing opportunities and ways to get out and have fun, but the reality is that more than likely you are paying quite a lot of money with the primary purpose of obtaining a great education. Often times it’s easy to lose sight of that, and I’ve personally let my studies slip a little more than I would’ve liked this quarter. I think that as a student, it’s natural that your studies should take top priority. All that being said however, your health and well being are just as important in the grand scheme of things.
I’ve always believed that your studies and well being go hand in hand. It’s hard to be successful in one if you’re unsuccessful in the other. For instance, if you’ve been getting 3 hours of sleep for the past week you’re definitely not going to be able to perform well in your classes despite the studying you’ve done. On top of that, you’re probably going to feel terrible and not going to have the motivation to keep studying hard. At the same time, if you slip and let your grades suffer there’s a good chance that you’ll become stressed and that’ll take a toll on your health and well being as well. It’s important to balance both your studies and your health so that you can enjoy your time at UCI.
Social life and leisure time is the third section of my brain, and may as well also be a part of the well being section. Aside from friends at UCI, I find it’s personally important for me to keep in touch with family and friends back home. I get homesick quite easily, so part of taking care of myself includes finding time to call my parents and siblings. Me and my friends all love video games, so to keep in touch we play multiplayer games together. The icon to the right of the leisure section is for a pc video game client called Steam, which lets all of us connect and socialize while we’re playing.
The last section is extra curricular activities, which include clubs and hall activities like the FYEP philanthropy project. When I was in high school, I naively thought that extra curriculars were just a way to help increase my chances of getting into college, but now that I’m here, it’s more apparent than ever that they are still important. Counselors and mentors always stress that networking and making connections with a variety of people is one of the most important things you can do in college. Grades are important of course, but meeting new people is also important to help find opportunities which may even lead to internships and career paths.
Although this brain illustration is overly simplified, I hope it gives a good idea of what is important to me and how I try to organize my priorities here at UCI.