I don't envy today's students

Enjoy summer while it lasts

There's a lot I miss about being a college student. It was a transformative period in my life. I spent years studying a field that I'm passionate about, met a lot of wonderful people, and figured out what I wanted to do with my life. That being said, I do not miss essays, exams, or randomized group projects in the slightest. I can't imagine the amount of stress that individuals pursuing a graduate degree or Ph.D. face. I could hardly handle my last few semesters of undergrad. You're telling me…

Procrastination alert

Chat GPT has caused a lot of new problems in the classroom. If plagiarism was a problem before, it's definitely a problem now. Luckily for teachers, Chat GPT isn't the greatest at writing essays, so they can usually tell when it's being used. If an essay says “As an AI tool, I cannot tell you XYZ,” you're probably in the clear for failing that student for plagiarism. Unfortunately, there is very little technology available for detecting whether AI tools are used. If you ask Chat GPT is a piece…

Bank account at a negative zero.

Let's be real: College sucks for a lot of reasons. The “Freshman Fifteen,” midterms and finals, essays that take you a million years to write and rewrite, only to rewrite again. I hated it all. But dealing with haughty, self-important professors may have been the absolute worst. I remember at University of Toronto, I had a professor who only assigned books he had written. This is a sure sign of a narcissist and someone who cares far more about their reputation and book sales than they do about…

My bank account is crying and filing for divorce.

College life. What we’re told is a chance to pursue your passions, secure a future career, and make incredible memories ends up being not so much that. College is stress distilled. Constant work, demanding professors, and indecision about your major guarantee at least one existential crisis by the end of the first semester. Add awful roommates and financial concerns to that, and you’ll quickly wonder why you chose to go to university in the first place. But, hey, it’s not all bad! Once you iron…

Bank account is at negative nada

I'm a Goofy Goober , yeah! You're a Goofy Goober, yeah! We're all Goofy Goobers, yeah! Goofy goofy, goober goober, yeah! If you've never wanted to go to the Nut Bar from The Spongebob Squarepants Movie and get yourself one of those sundaes with faces, I don't get you. That iconic 2004 movie was the perfect case study for why being a goofy goober is better than being a Squidward. Goofy gooberism was the force that allowed Spongebob and Patrick to ultimately defeat Plankton and his mind-controlli…

It's that time of the year again: the absolute worst three weeks of the year for every college student . You don't even have to say it to know that finals week is upon us, and students at universities around the world are super bummed out about it. This is the first December I haven't had to deal with finals week since I was a mere preteen, and I'm incredibly stoked. You're telling me I no longer have to kill myself for 4-6 classes during the most depressing time of the year? Sign me up; being…

“College was the best part of my life” is a sentiment often expressed by weepy alumni. It can be a lot of pressure for college students to have the best time ever because college is supposedly the best part of their lives. I sometimes wonder whether college was the best part of my life, and it's all downhill from there, and I must answer that with a decisive no.

Bright college days , oh, carefree days that fly! It's almost time for first-year students to move into their dorms, syllabus week to commence, and the binge drinking to begin. College is such a unique time in your life. For many students, it's the first time they'll be away from their family and maintain a semblance of independence. You are forced to learn how to take care of yourself and not make crazy choices all the time. I learned over the course of my freshman year that I couldn't eat thr…

"Drink Your Fifth Red Bull"

The events of the past year and a half have not been an easy time to be in education. One of the main reasons for this are two little words that put the fear of god into students everywhere: distance learning. While it might be pretty sweet that you can rock up to Zoom class and start gaming with your camera switched off, it’s not exactly conducive to getting those qualifications. Not every teacher has been able to adapt smoothly to this new way of imparting their hard earned knowledge, but som…