An Open Letter to All Students starting a New Academic Journey
Gaurav Shekhar
Senior Assistant Dean, Professor, Program Director, Public Speaker, Coach, Consultant, ITIL Trainer, Tech Evangelist
Dear Students,
Recently you embarked on a new academic journey. Congratulations to you for taking a step forward in upskilling yourself! We will always root for your success.
As you start this fantastic journey, you may have found yourself trying to scramble a lot of things - class schedules, assignments, projects, extra co-curricular activities. Suddenly 24 hours a day seem too less. This is when anxiety creeps in, you feel helpless to a point that you question your decision to start a degree program. You are running in all directions, only to bump into more issues. This starts to grow on you, burdens you and sometimes even breaks your confidence.
If you are that student, I want you to know that it is OK to feel that way.
One of my mentors gave me some advice when several years ago I was feeling the same way -
"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it"
When you start something new, you need to give yourself credit for putting an idea into action. You are a Winner already. But this is when we need to strategize how we can contain any adversities and move forward towards success. But before we jump to resolve any issues, there is a question I would like you to ponder upon -
"What do you do when you enter a dark room?"
You stand still. You maybe panicking at this moment. You may also be shouting for help. But after a bit, you contain your movement and you try to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. You bring all your experience and skills into this equation and may start moving slowly in a direction, where you try to understand what is around you. You may try to adjust your pupils to see if it helps you see at all. You look for a light switch or something that can help you see better. In short, you try looking for resources that can help you.
领英推荐
Starting a new academic year is just like being in this dark room.
Unfamiliarity of your surroundings can be a hassle. But you must not forget that this is not the first challenge you are facing and you do have the skills to surmount this one too. There are a few tips that can help -
You have started something great and at the end of this academic journey, there is a successful future waiting for you. Don't worry about the hurdles. When the wind blows in the opposite direction, the kite soars higher and higher!
All the best!
Regards
Professor Shekhar
Expert in global tech education and strategic partnerships, specializing in cybersecurity, data analytics, and higher education.
1 年Well said, Dean Gaurav Shekhar.
Actively seeking spring'25 internship/coop/full-time opportunities | MS. Business Analytics, AI & Data Science @ UT Dallas | Dean's Excellence Scholar
1 年Professor Gaurav, your analogy of the dark room hit home for me. Your message provides a much-needed sense of hope and calm during this exciting yet uncertain time. Thank you for your thoughtful message :)
Data Analyst @ EVERSANA | Actively Seeking Internship / Full Time Opportunities | Master’s of Science in Business Analytics & AI | Data Science | Data Analysis | Data Visualization | Machine Learning | SQL | Python
1 年I really loved the concept of the Darkroom and your six golden points to tackle it. Starting the first semester is a bit tough, but your words push me to do better and try harder...
MS in Business Analytics | The University of Texas at Dallas | Python | R | SQL | Tableau | MySQL | Marketing Analytics | Visualization | YouTuber
1 年“When you start something new……..you are already a Winner”, very well said Professor Gaurav! Couldn’t agree more?? I’d say to all the students, embrace the overwhelming feelings. For its a stepping stone to your learning and personal growth. You’ve got this! ??
Corporate Relations Specialist
1 年Gaurav, thank you for sharing this! Great advice for our students! These may be things we already know, but somehow reading it makes it more impactful!