Teachers told my mom from the start that I was bound for greatness. Okay, so they didn’t say “greatness,” but they were sure I’d do well in life because I got into G.A.T.E. early on, was on the honor roll every month, and had an above average GPA. Fast forward to today and I’m a college grad working and barely surviving as a freelance writer. College was a reason to move away from home and be closer to concerts. I got into the last few months of my senior year, looked at the past four years and said, “I’ve made one too many mistakes.” So being the older, and for the sake of this piece, the wiser – I want to let you in on some regrets I had during my years in school so that you don’t go and do the same.

1. Not Caring about My Major

It was Junior year and my adviser basically said it was time to declare a major. I had the most Humanities courses and decided that was not only an easy route to travel, but it made sense because I liked a little of everything. If school subjects were Hometown Buffet, I was nibbling from every section. Except math; curse you Algebra! Looking back, I would’ve picked something I was more passionate about, or that had more potential.

2. Skipping Too Many Classes

Going to school in Los Angeles or New York City is both a blessing and a curse. You’re emerged in so much but at the same time, you’re like – well I do have class. The struggle is real and will always be the case. There are concerts I have ticket stubs to that I don’t even remember. It would be really nice to have that money and time back.

3. Never Interning

Intern people, freaking intern. I can’t stress this enough because when you’re out and old, it’s insanely hard to find a decent internship; don’t think because Robert De Niro managed to be little miss Princess’s intern that you can score a legit internship in your golden years. I interned at two places after college. One place would take anyone who was willing to come into the office 10 hours a week and the other was by pure luck, meeting a girl at a party and her coming across my resume a week later. The first led me into a commission only job for a couple of years that made me loathe public transportation and the other was at a sweet record label where I failed to showcase any personality towards anyone but the girl who hired me. It’s safe to say I was not asked to stick around after my time was up.

4. Not Taking Advantage of the Career Center

To tell you the truth, I’m not even 100% sure I know where that even was on my campus…

5. Thinking a BA was All I Needed in Life

Having a degree means nothing if you lack experience. What is going to make you stand out is how hard you worked, volunteered and interned elsewhere. Remember that the next time you say, “there’s always next year to do this and that.” Soon enough next year you’re going to be hitting 30 and wondering where time went.