With graduation quickly approaching, seniors' heads are stuffed with thoughts of the future. But what they've learned throughout college should be passed along to those who will still be here when they have gone.
"Don't let school get in the way of college," said Josh Sells, senior in horticulture.
Sells said one of his problems starting out as a freshman was he was too concerned about his classes.
"I was really focused on not messing up because I was from out of state," Sells said. "So I was really focused on grades and not as much focused on getting out there and trying to see all the clubs and what they had to offer."
Nikhil Jha, senior in electrical engineering, also found that being too focused on school can be a problem.
"You're not nearly as smart as you think you are," Jha said. "I overloaded on courses, activities--you can't do everything."
Charley Gaines, senior in journalism, said one way she found to balance out schoolwork was to take everything one step at a time.
"Don't look to the future; just get one thing done at a time," Gaines said. "That's a life lesson, too."
Jha said he had to learn to say "no" in order to counteract his ambition--or to at least occasionally say no to class work.
"Sometimes it's OK to take a break and put something on hold, even if it's a big project," Jha said. "You're going to burn out really fast if you don't take breaks, go out to lunch with people and just stop and be like, 'Yeah, I'm not going to do this for a few hours. I'll come back and do it later.'"
But that doesn't mean say no to everything. Gaines said she recommends getting involved in a campus club or other organization.
"You meet a ton of new people when you get involved in things," Gaines said. "It exposes you to different things that you might not have been exposed to otherwise. Honestly, Auburn has anything and everything that you could get into."
When it comes down to it, you will get plenty of emphasis on school from your professors and advisers, but fellow students say there's more to life.
"It's not all about school," Gaines said. "College is a time for you to enjoy and grow as a person and to really find out who you want to be and who you can be."
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