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Like the full-time jobs we discussed part I, your college experience has a variety of dimensions as well. In this chapter, we’ll preview the major dimensions to your college experience. And in the rest of part III, we’ll discuss how to avoid common pitfalls and master each dimension.
You may have already heard of the work-socialize-sleep triangle. Work falls under academics, socialization plays a role in your mental health, and sleep is key to your physical health. Academics, mental health, and physical health are three key dimensions that pertain to every college student. You may also have heard people claim that a college student can only choose two of these dimensions; I disagree, and speaking from experience, I would argue that you can capture all three and will provide advice for doing so.
We’ll also touch on two additional dimensions: finances and internships. Some people are fortunate enough to pay for college out of pocket, but for those who can’t, they have to balance an additional financial dimension. Finally, while summer internships aren’t a direct component of a college curriculum, the work experience you rack up while in college still plays a large factor in your career outcomes after graduation.
Academics is the primary reason you pay to go to college. You attend class, do your homework, study for exams, and complete large projects. Once you complete all your academic requirements, you graduate with a degree, which shows companies that you have the qualifications to work full-time as a software engineer.
People who are strong in academics get their homework done, prepare thoroughly for exams, start projects early, and get their work submitted on-time. They are top achievers who understand material well, can extend their knowledge to new situations, and consequently get high grades in their coursework.
Mental health is how you feel emotionally. Do you feel welcome at school? Do you feel happy with your present situation? Do you feel a purpose in life? If you believe in higher powers, how do you feel about your connection with it/him/her/them?
People strong in the mental health dimension tend to smile a lot, bring cheer to others, have satisfying social interactions, develop strong friendships, and overall are great people to be around. You’ll often find them in impactful positions: residential assistants in the dormitories, peer mentors for younger students, or even just that friendly person who you can always talk to about anything.
Physical health is what your primary care doctor tells you about during your annual checkup. How much sleep are you getting? How are your cholesterol levels? Are you getting enough exercise? Are you deficient in any nutrients?
People strong in the physical health dimension get sufficient rest, exercise regularly, and are aware of what they eat. You’ll rarely see them doing something irresponsible to their bodies.
College isn’t cheap and there are a variety of ways to finance your experience, for example:
Some people have additional financial stressors such as needing to support their family as well. Everyone’s financial situation is different.
In general though, if you are pursuing the computer science major with the goal of getting a well-paying job immediately afterwards, then view college as an investment. If you can’t get your expenses paid for via scholarships, it’s okay to make reasonable sacrifices on finances because you’ll be earning much more after college. In an upcoming chapter, we’ll explain how to get financial aid, calculate the numbers, and decide whether it makes sense to borrow or work a job on the side.
Having relevant internship work experience is critical to getting the best full-time job possible after college. From a company’s perspective, an applicant with lots of prior work experience is much more appealing than an applicant with none. Thus, it is important to focus on obtaining summer internships as early as your freshman summer.
Most solid students graduate college with at least two internship experiences: one during sophomore summer and one during junior summer. Many students have three or more internship experiences and take software internships their freshman summer or even right after finishing high school.
You can’t be perfect in every dimension. It’d be great if you could complete 12 hours of coursework, hang out with friends for 12 hours, sleep for 12 hours, and cook yourself a delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. Too bad there’s only 24 hours in a day. The good news is you don’t have to be perfect in every dimension — you only have to focus on the highest-impact parts of each dimension.
Every human needs a certain level of physical and mental health to survive — nothing else is a hard requirement. The other dimensions are all soft requirements. How you balance the soft dimensions against your hard dimensions defines your college lifestyle. When necessary, you can stress your physical and mental health in the moment to accommodate urgent academic, financial, or internship needs. So long as you don't stretch your physical and mental health to their breaking point, you can take time afterwards to recover.
Your college lifestyle involves a series of tradeoffs. You’ll be deciding between
The correct choice involves cutting out the excessive parts and the parts you can live without.
The academic, mental health, physical health, financial, and internship dimensions each add numerous stepping stones to your path through college. Continue through the rest of part III to learn each dimension and its stepping stones. When you understand what matters most in each dimension, you can make effective tradeoffs and find the most efficient path to your ultimate goal of getting that computer science degree and amazing software job.