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Srshti

October 29th, 2014

Reflections on First Year

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Srshti

October 29th, 2014

Reflections on First Year

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Hi! It’s nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself – my name is Srshti and I’m a second year Maths and Economics undergrad. I’ve lived just outside London my entire life and this made the transition to a London university a lot easier. There are loads of advantages to living in London throughout the academic year, some of them of being:

  • I can go home in around an hour as often as I like and stock up on my mum’s cooking,
  • I am in a familiar environment and so technically-speaking, I should know where I’m going,
  • No one can tell me when to get out of bed, except for my timetable, and
  • I have access to some of the best independent book stores in the country, where I can spend an outrageous amount of my student maintenance loan.

Many of my secondary school friends went to far-flung cities to attend university, in order to get a better idea of independence. However, now that I’ve been at LSE for a year, I honestly couldn’t imagine studying anywhere else!

Of course, as with any higher education institution, I’ve had ups and downs during my time here. One thing that really surprised me last year was that you tend to find high career aspirations everywhere you look. Or, at least that’s the way it felt as a new student. Quite a few of my peers entered their undergraduate studies with a specific career goal in mind from the very beginning. I felt pressured to try and follow in their footsteps. Thus began a frantic flurry of applications for first year work experience. Note, that this isn’t a very practical or healthy way of going about things…

Lately, I have come to terms with the concept that my career will develop at its own pace, but that doesn’t mean I should take a backseat approach. My new philosophy is to go and find opportunities to develop myself, but to not let the careers process drown me psychologically and emotionally. I want to be able to work hard in my degree course, try new things, meet new people, and still leave enough time for myself. I’ve learned that surviving at LSE is a bit of a tightrope act. Nevertheless, it’s still been one of the best years of my life and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

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Srshti

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