my first year at uni

originally published: September 8, 2025

growing up, my mom talked about university as this fancy place where everyone is super determined and smart and knows what to do with their life. “it’s the place to be!” she said.

it wasn’t quite that. but it’s been interesting. below are four things that stood out to me during my first year:1

1. everyone is confused.

i thought people picked studies because they knew that’s what they wanted to work with. but that’s not true. in fact, most students haven’t figured out what they want to do. many pick their major based on what sounds cool or what a friend said is “good”. so don’t feel bad if you’re confused, almost everyone is. show up with an open mind and be ready to pivot if you find something more interesting than what you’re currently doing.2

also avoid school-cynics. i’ve met so many who say school is for “matrix people” yet have nothing going for them. don’t be that guy.

1. it’s not so formal.

i thought everyone would be sophisticated as fuck.

but no..

students are lazy. many spend lectures watching instagram reels. they still complain about deadlines and all kids of goofy things, just like in highschool. people still cheat on exams. some professors are relaxed and hang out with students. it’s not as serious as people would have you believe.

1. crazy diversity.

i sat next to a father of 2 last week. i even saw a 60-something-year-old in my math class once.3

if you’re a curious person, this is wonderful. you meet all kinds of people at uni. (while you’ll meet various people, you’ll notice that the bar isn’t very high.)

1. your competition is stupid.

at my seminar today i overheard a guy saying he’d watched 40 hours of reels this week and couldn’t remember a single one. to him, this was fascinating: “how can i not remember a single one?!” he said, all excited.

i say this to highlight how easy it is to distinguish yourself. the dynamic range between the doomscroller and the creator is massive. there is so much opportunity for you if you just lock in.

the average student’s day looks something like: complain about assignments, gossip, eat food, doomscroll, study, repeat. this is your competition.

that said, there are interesting and passionate people out there. you just have to find them. great people are rare.

overall, uni has been a nice experience: you learn (hopefully) interesting things, get a taste for scholarship, practice socializing, and get more freedom. however, it seems disturbingly common for a hungry, curious student to graduate as a dull and conformist normie. because of this, you have to actively protect your curiosity throughout the years. don’t let some gloomy professor convince you that school and work are boring. read books, think hard, and enjoy life.

words from a wise man

david ogilvy once wrote to his nephew: “Anyway, you are too young to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. If you spend the next few years at university, you will get to know the world — and yourself — before the time comes to choose your career. […] Don’t judge the value of higher education in terms of careermanship. Judge it for what it is: a priceless opportunity to furnish your mind and enrich the quality of your life.”

bonus

random things that came to mind while writing this:

1. if you don’t know what to do with your life you should go to uni. sitting around and thinking without having a problem to solve never got anyone anywhere.

2. the goal is to find work that feels like play. (the same way eating cookies requires no discipline because you enjoy it, doing work you enjoy makes it effortlessly productive and fun.)

3. like what you do > do what you like.

4. the best way to improve your university experience is to talk to strangers. embrace high agency. uni is the perfect place for this.

5. “how many even discover something they love to work on? a few hundred thousand, perhaps, out of billions.”

6. i saw this tweet about universities while writing this post and it was too perfect to not include: “the only reason to show up is to build a network but most people are unfortunately retarded.”

7. i can’t be sure i’m getting anywhere when working, but i can be sure i’m getting nowhere when i’m not4

if you’ve chosen a major, here’s two heuristics for you:

• if no part of your program is so interesting that you do it outside of school, you’ve probably picked the wrong major.

• if it’s not getting more interesting the deeper you go, you’ve probably picked the wrong major.

if you’re a fellow student:

• 1 year free Perplexity Pro (including Comet browser): here

• 1 year free Google One / Google AI Pro: here

• student plan for lots of AI apps (Notion, Lovable, ElevenLabs, v0, Bolt, etc.): here