We had the opportunity of interviewing SN, a student at the University of Pennsylvania about: Balanced Life
Here are some of his qualifications:
A sophomore at UPenn, Wharton School of Business
Maintained a 4.4 GPA in high school
Previously involved in Model United Nations, Varsity Soccer, Varsity Tennis, Wind Orchestra, Marching Band, Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society
Here are some important words SN shares;
"Stress tends to come in waves for me so I kind of learned to ride the momentum of each wave in order to prepare myself for the next one."
"I tried not to procrastinate things too much so that I could have time to relax without anything hanging over my head."
" No one wants to start something as soon as it is assigned, but I promise it makes your resting time much more refreshing."
Q: What did you have to give up in order to reach your goals and pursue your passions?
A: Not much really. My sleep schedule suffered a bit but nothing severe.
Q: Have your passions always been the same as your actions? Or did you jump around a bit before settling?
A: I jumped around a lot. When I was younger, I wanted to study culinary studies, then chemistry, then physics, and I landed on economics. I love economics and I know now that it is the perfect major for me, but it took some exploration to figure that out.
Q: What was your work ethic? (stay focused, multitask, take breaks, group work, etc.)
A: When I was working on something I was good at (math), I would often multitask and take breaks. If I was doing reading, however, I had to be completely in the zone or I would not finish it.
Q: How do you give yourself time to rest and refresh?
A: I tried not to procrastinate things too much so that I could have time to relax without anything hanging over my head. No one wants to start something as soon as it is assigned, but I promise it makes your resting time much more refreshing.
Q: How did you deal with failure?
A: I am pretty hard on myself a lot of the time, but after awhile I look around and see that everyone else fails too. It can be easy to think that it is just you, but others around you likely fail just as often even though they may not show it. The trick is to figure out what you can learn from it.
Q: Whenever you felt like giving up, how did you get yourself motivated again?
A: I always look forward to the next big challenge. I think “oh after I take the SAT next week I will be able to relax” or “after I get my college decisions back I can chill for a little bit”. Stress tends to come in waves for me so I kind of learned to ride the momentum of each wave in order to prepare myself for the next one.
Q: How did you schedule your time to complete and do well in everything in high school?
A: I have never been much of a fixed schedule guy. I like to be more spontaneous and see how things fit together. If I have a particularly busy time coming up, I will of course have to be a little more organized, but generally I just wait and see where things fall.
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