As my college experience comes to a close and the seemingly impending graduation walk looms, I will not be leaving GW with a perfected GPA nor academic honors of any kind. However, I could not be more proud of the substantive and impactful development and learning I acquired during my time as a college student. Many GW students spend their entire time in college obsessed with getting a perfect GPA, but the best career development opportunities are those outside the classroom. Through extracurriculars, ventures abroad and invaluable career experience, I am entering the “adult world” with multiple pathways at my fingertips and a versatile and adaptable mindset, both of which I acquired outside of the classroom. In an effort to best prepare for today’s tumultuous world, the most essential skills I learned were not the grades I received, but the well-rounded and multifaceted approach I had toward college, filled with extracurricular activities and travel. While many students worry about having a high or perfect GPA, it’s imperative for students to remember that it is only one aspect of college and that their time at GW offers many more experiences and opportunities that can be much more fruitful to them as they enter the workforce.
The first place to start building valuable skills is on campus. Like most U.S. universities, GW houses a plethora of campus organizations, teams and societies. The different organizations available on campus can help bolster the identities and ideals of students, whether it is through activism, representation by voicing your opinion through the school newspaper or competition through teams like mock trial. All of these activities serve greater purposes of giving students long-term skills like leadership skills and public speaking, rather than filling gaps in a lackluster resume. During my time at GW, I indulged in a variety of these experiences. I secured a spot on the mock trial team in my freshman year, and I found myself in a rather small group of diverse and skilled individuals united by the simple yet rigorous goal to win. While professors often encourage students to spend more time on school work than extracurriculars or activities that are supposedly “just for fun,” I found that the value I extracted from spending time on mock trial was more beneficial than shutting myself up in Gelman Library with books.
In mock trial, whether we were playing a witness in a civil case or cross-examining as an attorney in a criminal one, we were determined to develop and then arrange our skill sets to maximize our chance of taking home the prize. Sometimes we did, and sometimes we did not. Yet, in this process, I was able to hone and refine skills that have served me past my time on the team. Through my time at mock trial I acquired the ability to write a convincing and articulate statement regarding a “personal” endeavor rather than an academic argument, deliver a statement in a confident, assertive and well-timed manner and collaborate with a diverse group of individuals with varied skills to achieve a definite and rigorous goal. When I captained the team, I attempted to righteously assess and direct individuals in a simultaneously virtuous and effective way. These are skills most individuals don’t learn until they are well into their careers, but they are possible to grasp in college. But I wouldn’t have honed these abilities if I solely obsessed over getting a perfect GPA — what allowed me to build up this skillset is my willingness to explore extracurriculars geared toward my interest that I knew would help me succeed.
Similarly, as an opinions writer for The Hatchet, I have had the opportunity to build my writing skills through topics and events that have personal importance to me, rather than fulfilling a degree requirement. It’s a different experience to write pieces I choose compared to professors assigning me topics, allowing me to interact with them in a more passionate and dedicated way. I wrote pieces in the past two years urging voters to look at policies when voting rather than individuals, highlighting the risks of the internet following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and more. The tireless process of revisions, cuts and restructuring on real-time issues allowed me to develop argumentative, analytical and compositional skills, which are essential in today’s socio-political climate. Being forced to expand or even question my opinion in a constructive manner and consider how to word my perspective to best resonate with the diverse student body will allow me to discuss my views in my career or society in a succinct, supported and sensible manner, a skill that most Americans fail to gain. These kinds of skills and experiences are not learned in a classroom, and can only be strengthened through student organizations or teams.
Arguably, the most profound product of my college years was gaining an expansive and substantive global perspective. This was done by venturing outside of the classroom — showcasing how academic pursuits paired with firsthand, real-world experience can teach much more than what we read from our textbooks. I had the privilege of taking three GW-tied excursions during my undergraduate experience. The first was with the History Department’s class “Normandy: The Price of Freedom” where our spring break trip to Normandy and its accompanying archival research completely transformed my mindset on the scope and scale of historical events. While this is still an academic experience, I was able to learn a lot more compared to being in a classroom by simply walking the massive beaches of Normandy and the various cemeteries of the soldiers killed there, which made my approach to history more tangible and compassionate. With the Elliot School of International Affair’s Institute of Korean Studies, I also spent two weeks in Seoul, where my class observed socio-political forces shaping modern Korea via site visits to government facilities, embassies and universities. Lastly, this last fall at the University of Edinburgh, I spent three months living and learning among a population, gaining a front-row view to their political issues of constitutional clashes, witnessing their struggle via protests. These experiences were also possible due to extensive funding, such as the U.S. State Department’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and the near full funding of the Korean program, making these opportunities possible for many students. While some may say these experiences have led me to place less time into my academic studies, placing myself in diverse environments has provided a first-hand, enriching experience that allows me to approach diverse views with a uniquely open mind and way of reasoning, which is limited in the classroom. These are the beneficial experiences that I will look back on fondly after graduation.
Lastly, taking advantage of the internship opportunities in D.C. served as the ultimate dictator of identifying my career path. Interning at the U.S. Senate on three separate occasions granted me first-hand exposure to the inner workings of the nation’s legislative process on issues that affect me in real time. Whether I was attending Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing to develop a personal, non-biased stance on the controversial initiatives he proposed, or reviewing President Donald Trump’s reconciliation bill with legal counsel, which allowed me to analyze legislation in real time with expert input, all provided a learning experience that simply cannot be contained by the academic limits of a classroom.
Truly, my college experience is more fulfilling due to the efforts and ventures I pursued outside of the classroom. I may not have the 4.0, but my ability to navigate today’s world in my prospective career and as a contributing member of society is much more capable because I did not endlessly lock myself in Gelman, though I did still spend my fair share. I am beyond proud of my accomplishments, which go beyond the numbers listed on my transcript. I encourage students to do the same — to not be weary of extending your skills, ambitions, and passions beyond the classroom to the endless possible ventures. While, academics remain the basis of your GW degree, your outcome as an alum should be virtuously holistic and amply prepared for the world beyond which cannot simply come from the classroom.
James Pomian, a graduating senior majoring in history and political science, is an opinions writer.
