One of the bad habits that I’m beginning to pick up as a non-engineering major is procrastination. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world to know that a 15 page research paper is due in a few days and you haven’t even look at your sources. This strategy works for some people (like my roommate), who can completely crank out an essay in one long night and still manage at least a B on it. For others (like me), doing big projects in one sitting can be one of the most stressful things to do.
After having to do a long economics homework assignment in one night, I have learned my lesson. It is always best to try to do things earlier. Even if you don’t feel like it, just start working through a little bit of it at a time and before you know it, the assignment is complete! The week before spring break was really a test of my ability to get things done. I worked so hard to meet all of my deadlines and they ended up being extended. The good thing about this is that I was given a chance to go back and look at the work I had done and revise it.
In my Marketing class, my professor assigned a project where we have to do a marketing plan. We were given the names of the people in our groups and expected to get together and complete the project. When I was an engineering student, everyone had a general idea of who everyone else was. Even if we didn’t know each other personally there was still some sense of community. When a project was assigned in engineering, everyone just found the members of their group and got the job done. Now that I’m on the business track, I feel like everyone is much more independent. I go to class, look straight ahead, take notes, and leave. When my Marketing professor posted the lists of people who were in each group on TLearn all I saw was names, I had no idea who they are. The only thing I knew about my project group members were their names and the due date for the project is coming up soon! Eventually (today), everyone in my group got together and sorted our project out.
I think the best way to avoid this problem is to start networking early, even if it’s just making a friend in that class to study with, or striking up a conversation with the people around you before class starts. After this experience with Marketing, I’m definitely going to take my own advice and start networking!
