In a few days I will officially be half-way done with college. I started Zoom University second semester of my freshman year and have been in a green box ever since yet Iâm more than grateful I got the chance to learn online.
Quarantine was a blessing in disguise but at the same time I donât want to neglect the disastrous financial and economic health burden the Covid pandemic has cast on communities, especially those of color and lower income.
Every person in the world, no matter how wealthy or poor has been affected. Myself included. Towards the end of 2020, my mental state had gone out of the roof, I lost touch with friends during the most developmental and social years of my life as a teen and I felt lost + depressed for a while.
With that being said, I needed a way to cope. Since my pet peeve is wasting time, I took the opportunity to open that dusty childhood drawer and check out my passion project list which included building future startups to getting started with activities and taking advantage of opportunities Iâve always been afraid of initiating assuming due to my limited experience at my age, I needed to wait longer.
Finally May 2020 was the time for me to get started on something. I got roughly 10 hours of my time back from commuting, peak energy, a stacked fridge and had nothing to loose!
After all, the worst regret is regret itself.
No one thinks about you as much as you think they do and thankfully I had gotten over the stages of imposter syndrome, awkwardness and the obsession on otherâs options as a pre-teen so I was head on!
As the year went by under lockdown, I was fortunate to be able to build from scratch and define my own success but out of all the things Iâve built and discovered, what was most meaningful was realizing what I was actually up to at college.
Spoiler Alert: I didnât take full advantage of it.
I didnât take a step back as a freshman. It was all new to me, in a city Iâve been a part of since I was born but never digested and everything was going so fast unsure about the future.
Thankfully I grew as a person during this time alone and uncovered more about my university than I wouldâve if I was there!
Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I started diving into what my school offered and soon realized, most students have no idea what theyâre missing out on.
Perks I Discovered (Not Just at NYU):
Newspaper Subscriptions:
Massive discount for NY Times and WSJ (for business savvy or not students)
Cool Paid Marketing Gigs
Can be paid pay-check to pay-check, monthly or not at all as an ambassador for a brand.
Here you are gaining great sales experience, customer/client interaction, honing your soft skills and learning how to negotiate with strangers:
Iâm an ambassador for:
iXperience, the Forte Foundation and Morning Brew
Paid Polls +Â Surveys
This can take up a lot of your time but instead of watching Netflix or even during Netflix, take a paid poll. There are thousands of sites for these, you can simply Google search, âcollege pulse paid surveysâ and there will be 2.5 and counting results.
You are getting paid for your time so remember, it is precious and the best job is when you get paid sleeping so be mindful.
Brand Boost
As someone who only uses LinkedIn, this was one of the best decisions for my career. Not only have I landed internships through personal DMs by recruiters on the site, hundreds of new readers to BNF join per day by simply referencing it in my personal bio section and hosts ask me to be on their podcast because they love my content!
If you post consistently for a month, you will see traction not just from your readers and followers but from everyone.
Propel your personal and professional world by being less âprofessionalâ on LinkedIn. Simply be you. Not cut and dry.
Too Much Free Stuff
If you want a discount, you have to search for it. Thereâs usually no wait time or extra work to do besides taking the time to look for that physical discount.
The best place is on your schoolâs website. If itâs tied to a production or event in a city, letâs say NYC, for NYU students, to find any discount, you would go to Tischâs website or the head NYU student discount site to find out more.
Besides shows and gatherings that are currently on hold now, various businesses and venues love to support students because they not only drive revenue, they spend more frivolously! Not great for the student, but great for the business.
These stores accept any college email. Sites such as Unidays offer discounts on thousands of products and various vendors to students. From Apple to Madewell, you can earn a decent amount off but remember, just because itâs on sale, doesnât mean you need it.
On the physical campus, you can save on text books and on tech if youâre really savvy as well. Itâs all there, just look for it!
Make Learning Fun!
My favorite classes Iâve taken so far at NYU, âThe Science of Happinessâ and âBeing Digitalâ have all come from reviews which I found online.
Just like the site, RateMyProfessor, there are sites that can show you what classes are popular, in high-demand and if there actually fun because how wouldnât want to make learning fun, right?
All it takes is a Google search and a little review of some recommendations. They can make or break your experience, especially the professor!
There should be no surprise here. Everything is available to students if they search for it. Take some time out of your day to save you hassle, money and energy down the road.
Make the most out of your experience especially since you are most likely in debt for it!
Crossing my fingers for in-person classes for the fall! This is your chance to become an expert on your school!
PS: Remember to have fun, become 100% with being embarrassed, make mistakes and fail because itâs a privilege to fail. The older you get, the less chances you get.