AgOutsideAustin said:

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Professor at A&M on the first day one year said "you're not special. You either borrowed money to be in that seat or your mommy and daddy are paying for it or maybe you are working your way to get that seat. You're not better than the kid that's not here. Now what are you going to do with this opportunity? "

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Awesome!

First day of Accounting 406 - Personal Income Tax. Dr Nixon walks into the back of one of the large rooms in Blocker and says,

Quote:

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There's 300 of us in this room. I could cheat on all of our taxes and none of us would get caught. Welcome to personal income tax.

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That taught me two things. One I could cheat on my taxes and not get caught. Two, I didn't want to be in taxes.

Does anyone believe they still instill the same values for the Class of 2028

as the class of 1983?

The first semester of physics was a game changer for me. Up till then, I could get through by memorization. I got to physics and realized it was way different. So much so I dropped it at midterm as I had an F. Took it again and I learned how to think.

My dad always taught me to dream big and then TAMU, specifically 3 profs, taught me not to live an average life. Most my friends went home and got summer jobs or took summer class at Blinn. I worked as a backcountry ranger and research assistant in Glacier National Park for 4 summers. These experiences along with backpacking the 9 months before fish year instilled a life of adventure. 82 countries later I still have passion for travel, exotic cultures and food. Those 3 profs guided me to lessons that at 42, I still think about and live by.

Two things: (1) Becoming an Aggie and being able to utilize the Aggie Network is one of the most invaluable tools you will acquire in your lifetime (2) Professor Siebert in the AGEC Department, without outright saying it, taught that it was much more important to be a genuinely good person in the professional world than it was about anything else. If you could be that, you will be successful.

What a great topic!

I learned so many things at A&M that I could almost write a book chronicling all the lessons.

But the one that rises to the top is something that I never learned in any of my classes or in the lecture halls or in the labs of Zachry. The biggest lesson over my time at A&M was that my parents were considerably more wise and knowledgeable and skilled in life than I had any clue. They knew a LOT more about a LOT of topics than I had any idea. That was perhaps the sweetest lesson I could have learned, and the lesson only deepened in the decades that have followed. And, it has served me well.

I was in some ways a model son - quick to obey and listen to my parents advice. I never really had a rebellious period in my teenage years. Nor did I ever really go "off the rails" in my college years or beyond. But, like many, by the time I was entering my freshman year, I thought I had this "life thing" down or that I had some insight into the ways of life that perhaps they could not grasp. I thought I knew a lot more about how the world worked than I actually did. But, wow, did those college years at A&M help to strip away some of that pride and misperception.

If I had to make it more generic, maybe the seedlings of the lesson is this: It is the folly of youth to think that the challenges or the adventures or the struggles that one is experiencing and engaged within now are somehow wholly new and novel. That somehow we lay hold or possess some new insight or truth - that has not yet been discovered. But, there is nothing new. There is nothing novel. There is only the old and true paths that generations bygone have walked and traversed before us. We should be humble and learn from them - their stories, their wisdom.

Do not let your friends leave you at a bar and try to walk across campus late on a Friday or Saturday night after doing heavy squats the same day. But they were nice enough to give me a ride home because my legs were so sore. And they performed a free inspection of my apartment without permission. Great guys.

"Walking funny" at this time of night is a crime called "public intoxication" even if you are not intoxicated.


Also, you can learn more chemistry from a tutor named "Mr. Bill" in a few hours than you can in weeks of going to class.

Kidding aside, I agree with OP that it taught me discipline and work ethic. During my first year of law school, I had nightmares about Physical Chemistry. Not kidding. And I was relieved to be in law school when I woke up. After that class, I knew I could understand anything any other human could understand with time and effort.

On my first night on campus, I learned the power of one's inner compass. Some goals are thought out and planned, some are internal and can take hold in a flash. But be careful on those internal ones -- if it's a worthy goal, amazing things can happen and it feels as if nothing can stop you on your quest. Anyways, I made a 'flash' internal goal after meeting an awesome student leader my first night at A&M and three years and change later I was wearing his pass-down Sam Brown and saber.

My biggest lesson is that I should've been in the Corps. I regret not giving it more thought and letting a few less than stellar impressions turn me away.

Getting cocky in a class I was strong in and giving a sloppy presentation.

Professor was disappointed and yelled at me, told me "you do good work, now go and do great work", then walked out of the room.

ToddyHill said:

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The first semester of physics was a game changer for me. Up till then, I could get through by memorization. I got to physics and realized it was way different. So much so I dropped it at midterm as I had an F. Took it again and I learned how to think.

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In physics I had a 48 average as did most the class, if not worse when it came time to Q drop. Prof said there would be no curve. I Q dropped and my friend who also had a 48 stayed, not buying the no curve. He got an A. I took it again and got a B


Lesson, do what data says is the truth over words. He wasn't going to fail the whole class

I learned that my entire Chemistry curriculum in high school was covered on the first test in Freshman Chemistry at A&M. All content after test 1 was new to me.

Subsequently, I then learned that getting poor grades early meant you spent the rest of your academic career behind the eight ball.

Didn't show up for any class the first semester of my sophomore year. Decided drinking beer and playing pool at the Chicken was more fun. Did not drop my classes. 0.0 GPA.

My academic advisor kicked me out of A&M. He said "We don't want your kind at Texas A&M" It's a long story but he made a deal with me. I'm certain it was off the books.

What I learned was responsibility, accountability, integrity, commitment. Hearing his words and the fact that he saw something in me and he was willing to take a chance and give me another chance changed my life.

Many of the above ring true.

My most valuable lesson was the first day on campus, from one of the new zip BQs who was a drum major. When my dad (a former BQ) asked him what it took to become a drum major, he said "Don't worry about what it takes to be a drum major, be the most redass fish you can be. Selection starts now."

That's true in everything in life. Your selection for any current role in both personal and professional part of life doesn't start when you tell people you want the role, it started from the moment the people making the selection first met you. Be the best you can be, all of the time.


Oh, and probably more important than the above. Marry a hot Aggie chem engineer who's awesome. She makes life better every day.