The best essay on the topic: The most important lesson college has taught us

Author: Gomathi Sridevi
India

It's most people's dream to enter college for the people living in India. Since my school days, I dreamt about entering college to get rid of uniforms. "If you work hard for just one year, you can enjoy your college life," I still remember those words said by my school teachers. I worked hard and scored good marks in my finals. After attending an interview, I got selected in women's college.

Like everyone, I was excited on the first day of my college. And the first lesson college taught me was, "Expectation hurts." I was shocked to see the bundles of syllabus and portions. Here I had to study harder than I did in school. "Work hard for another three years you can enjoy your whole life, my teachers said." And I know that I should never trust those words again. I expected college would be fun where we could roam and bunk classes, but my college was strict compared to my school. All those dreams shattered within a few seconds.

I was a day scholar, and I need to travel on a bus for more than an hour to reach the college. Mostly I was late and missed my first-hour classes. And I was unable to attend my exams because of lacking attendance. I was disappointed since I got fail in my result without appearing for the exam. Neither my teachers nor my seniors warned about this. I promised myself not to lack attendance again. "Being on time," was the next lesson which I learned. I started to schedule my time properly to make sure I was not late for the class. Being early to college was better than to be late.

I was always an audience when it comes to competition. But in college, I started to participate in every contest. I was an average student in my academics, but I showed my interest more in extracurricular activities. Though I didn't get to win prizes, I was happy to receive a participation certificate. My college appreciated my creativity, and I started to win prizes in a few competitions. "Never give up," was the next lesson my college taught me. At first, I failed many times, but I never gave up. Winning was not my goal, but I enjoyed doing everything. One can't beat those who enjoy and do it. I was a silent and shy type girl back in my school days. But in college, I saw a drastic change in myself. I became more of an extrovert person and very talkative in class. I was active in the classroom and started to give answers. In school, I rarely interact with teachers. My teachers encouraged me in my studies and other activities. I underestimated a lot, but my college taught me that I was wrong about myself. "You realize who you are." I realized my potential and started to work hard during my college days.

"Never look down on anybody." The valuable lesson I learned from my college. I understood the value of uniform in school once I entered college. In school since all were in uniform, we never judged others. But in college people started to discriminate others based on their dressing. They mocked and hurt them by making bad comments on people, and I have experienced it in my college. They never know the trauma and pain which we undergo. I was hurt when my friend asked me " Are you poor?". Since I had to travel for a long time, I prefer comfortable clothes than a fashion one. Just because you have money doesn't mean you own the world.

The three years of my college was the best and worst moments of my life. Most of the lessons which I learned from my college was outside my classroom. I became a selfless and broad-minded person. In school, I was living in a four-sided wall like a frog in the well. I was unaware of the outside world. In school, we were focusing only on scoring marks, but in college, I learned marks has nothing to do with your life. College is the place where one person identifies his or her true self. I discovered myself in the course of my college life.

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