Abstract from 'The U in SMU' by Seshan Ramaswani. What do you think about it? :)
A campus does not a University make – U do!
This great University is a lot more than those 35 courses, and the hours spent cramming for them in the GSRs and library. There are huge opportunities for extra curricular activity, great museums and libraries and art galleries and concert theatres within a short walk, a huge number of opportunities to travel abroad (exchange, BSM, community service, internships). And these are not only for the moneyed student – there are grants, scholarships, there are internships that pay you. If you get hung up on Wharton or some American or “branded” school as the only exchange program worth getting into that would look good enough on your resume, you’re overlooking the huge learning opportunity for learning in the Czech republic or in Bangkok or in China. If you always strategically decide to form groups with your JC or year 1 buddies in all your classes in years 2-4, you are greatly stunting your growth and your ability to work with a diverse bunch of people. If you participate in class discussions strategically to maximize the chances that the TA would notice you and get you that CP point, you are likely never to raise that really bigger fundamental question behind whatever the class is talking about. If you take courses based on which professor gives the most As or is the most entertaining, you could be losing out on courses that could be a lot more challenging intellectually. If you read only the text books and course packs, you are losing the huge opportunity to learn outside of those books.
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