Through the endless slew of assignments and midterms as of late, I’ve found it harder to, to put it eloquently, enjoy the scenery. Quite the opener I’m aware, but as I write this blissfully tucked under the blankets of my apartment, I find myself reflecting on my past year of being an engineer in college. So let me take you along for the journey, whether you’re a junior deep into the customs of this school or a freshman trying to navigate their schedule, I hope this exploration of experiences hits somewhere close to home.

I honestly find it hard to believe that it has been about a year and a half since I began my stay at Texas A&M. I came in as a freshman attempting to study computer science – hence, if you scroll down to my introductory blurb at the bottom of the page, you’ll find rambling about something comp sci related. In retrospect, I believe this desire came from the social pressure to have a good job, to please my parents and break through in an industry that is considered lucrative. I guess, in that sense, I’m glad ETAM (or the Entry into a Major program) exists (#notanad). Without it, however, I don’t think I would’ve found myself majoring in biomedical engineering.

A little side tangent about what I had to do to get here however — through the nights I’ve spent procrastinating every single one of my subjects, praying to do well on them, promising myself that I would get my study schedule together next week and then continuing to do the same thing over and over again. I’ve realized that every bad decision you make informs your next one. Whether that’s in a good or a bad way is up to you. Even if you keep procrastinating, you’re building the memory of how bad it is or essentially how much you don’t want to do it. Even if you can’t stop right now, you can stop tomorrow – as long as you’re deliberate about it. And this decisiveness is so important when it comes to engineering, especially so once you ETAM.