…write your essay title before even knowing the thesis.
...WRITE YOUR ESSAY TITLE BEFORE EVEN KNOWING THE THESIS.
Follow for more reflections on the unique journey.
Did you even truly go to an institution of this caliber if you didn’t spend academic years convinced the sheer volume of assigned readings was a social experiment? Or that the real test was skillfully skimming a 400-page book in two hours, extracting just enough to sound intelligent in section? Those late-night library sessions, fueled by dubious caffeine and a desperate hope for knowledge by osmosis, are etched into our shared memory.
We’ve all been there: staring blankly at your own lecture notes, deciphering frantic chicken scratch from a 9 AM class you barely attended, wondering if cryptic symbols meant anything at all. The subtle art of strategic lecture napping, perfectly timed during the most monotonous slide, yet snapping awake for the key takeaway. Or the quiet, competitive note-taking, where a neighbor’s organized binders made your scribbled margins feel like a crime scene. These weren't just academic hurdles; they were definitive rites of passage, unique "shenanigans" that profoundly shaped our intellectual coming-of-age within those hallowed halls.
Remember the pure thrill of crafting a brilliant essay title before a clear thesis, implicitly trusting ideas would miraculously fall into place? It was an audacious act of academic faith, a profound testament that half the battle was always magnificently framing the intellectual brilliance you were about to unleash. These moments—the quirky challenges, the shared struggles, the ultimate triumphs—are precisely what bind us. They’re the insider jokes, the knowing glances, the shared history that transcends specific departments or graduating classes. If you truly lived through it, you unequivocally know.