If you’re one of those students who felt lost along the way and ended up extending your stay in school, please do not lose hope. Sometimes, we have to deal with the fact that we move forward in different paces. While the rest of your peers are about to graduate this coming summer, you feel stuck in one year of subjects you consider hopeless to pass. With your batchmates leaving you to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers in different companies, here you are, wondering if you’ll ever be able to touch the diplomas you all yearn for.
I had to extend my studies for two years. What was originally a five-year course turned into seven years. My decision to shift to a different engineering course led to it. Of course, it wasn’t easy to tell my parents that they’ll have to pay for my tuition for an extra two years. I felt my parents were disappointed with everything that happened to me academically but luckily, they continued to support me. They had no choice.
So there I was, on my fifth year in college, I was starting again with my new course while I saw my friends post how excited they are to be graduating on time. I felt jealous and I swallowed myself in self-pity. I kept asking myself why was I not smart enough to survive my previous course. I kept wondering if studying harder would have led me to graduating on time. But I guess, everything was too late. No amount of self pity and bitterness would change the fact that I had to extend my stay.
Source: Giphy
I decided to change my point of view. Instead of feeling bad about my situation, I thought of all the exciting things waiting for me in my new course. There were so many people I had to meet, new challenges to take and a fresh new start in college. The fact that I was still accepted in this course despite my previous grades was already a blessing so I had to do my best in achieving new things. Instead of feeling sad that my friends were graduating, I decided to be happy for them. They worked so hard to achieve their success. I realized this extension was a chance for me to make new friends – and I did.
My extension in college wasn’t easy. Being older than most of my new friends, I felt pressured to act my age but given that engineering school is tough to its students, my new friends made me feel at home with them. They made sure that I had people to comfort me when school was rough. I did the same thing to my new friends as well.
Of course, I wasn’t able to escape the judgments from other people. “Why haven’t you graduated already?”, “Oh, wow. So you took your time huh?”, or “You must not be smart enough for engineering then.” But I learned to stop caring about what other people say. Like my mom told me before, “If these people don’t pay for your tuition, then stop caring what they think. Now, go study and graduate!” Her words stuck with me until I was able to graduate after seven years in college.
The road wasn’t easy. But I managed to survive. So if you’re going through the same thing I went through, don’t lose hope. You will graduate eventually. You just have to work harder and never lose faith in yourself. I know how hard it is to focus on our studies in engineering school but you have to. Keep your eyes on the prize and one day, you’ll get it.
Source: Giphy
