By the end of my Welcome Week, I thought NYU was a huge mistake. Meeting dozens of strangers was not only exhausting, but extremely stressful. Until college, I had a close circle of friends. I never had a need to awkwardly shuffle around a room trying to make small talk in order to find common interests with others. What I did not realize at the time was that NYU offered me a chance to explore new opportunities that I never would have considered otherwise.

After several weeks of mindlessly completing online math assignments and reading cryptic poetry for Writing the Essay, I thought I had a sense of what my college life would entail. I attended meetings for several business-oriented clubs and spent a lot of time at the library. Falling into my old routine was the easiest thing to do — not much had changed since high school.   

By the time sophomore year rolled around, most of my extracurricular activities felt stale. It was not until my roommate mentioned the school newspaper that I even considered writing in my free time. I always excelled in quantitative courses and dreaded the occasional mandatory essay. Nonetheless, I decided to contribute several articles — which I actually enjoyed writing. I stayed with Washington Square News for the rest of the year and wound up spending more time on writing than I did in clubs from the year prior. 

Taking a risk paid off, so I decided to use the same philosophy later in the year when I was applying for summer internships. After combing through hundreds of job postings online and writing dozens of cover letters, I came across an opportunity at a bank’s compliance department. I had never considered compliance as a career path, but I sent in my resume anyway. A short while later I interviewed at the firm and was offered a summer position, so I decided to take a chance and accept the offer. My summer internship turned out to be a great experience, defying all my previous expectations of working in a bank. My superiors were friendly and supportive — a far cry from stereotypical Wall Street. 

Looking back, my only regret is that I waited a year before I was willing to try something totally new. It was all too easy for me to ignore new opportunities. Now that I am entering my penultimate year of college, I know I will continue to take risks and keep an open mind toward all of the opportunities NYU has to offer. So, if you just finished your first week of classes and already hate NYU, don’t give up yet. Take a risk and you might discover something that you never knew you enjoyed. 

 A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Sept. 4 print edition. Email Adam Fazlibegu at [email protected].