What Would I Tell My College-Self?

I attended Tufts University from 2013-2017. I took a wide range of classes (listed below), joined some great student groups, and had a lot of fun. But if I could do it over again, there's a lot that I would change.

Enjoy learning more.

You were too focused on grades in your freshman year. Ironically, that's when you got your worst grades. You'll easily get the A's if you enjoy what you're learning and think deeply about it.

Stop chasing after prestige.

Your college search was mostly based on rankings and aesthetics. You got lucky that Tufts was a great fit, but you failed to seriously consider the various factors that make up a good university experience.

At Tufts, you pursued an IR/Arabic double major in large part because it sounded impressive. The IR core and distribution requirements were crazy—you probably should have majored in political science instead, and traded language/economics requirements for more interesting classes. Similarly, you had to take five MENA culture classes (e.g. "Visualizing Colonialism") to complete your Arabic major. That was a waste of time and money.

Even after Tufts, you took the same approach in your job search. You claimed to want to work in public policy, but were attracted to a smattering of random, prestigious places in consulting, law enforcement, and the U.S. government. If you really want to develop, fuel, and implement good public policy, then just do it. Stop "positioning" yourself to work on public policy. Find a public policy area that you're interested in and start doing research and advocacy now. Think more about what you can do today than tomorrow.

Think less about your career.

You think a lot about potential careers, as a teacher, professor, military officer, law enforcement officer, intelligence analyst, or think tanker, among others. This is probably bad advice for most people, but for you: slow down. You're spending too much time and energy on these visions of the future. And despite all that work, you almost ended up teaching English in China anyways.

My Classes @ Tufts:

Fall 2013: 4 credits
- Novice Arabic 1
- Art History to 1700
- Western Political Thought I
- Principles of Economics

Spring 2014: 4 credits
- Novice Arabic 2
- Intro to International Relations
- Intro to Computer Science
- Social Psychology

Summer '14: Student @ Middlebury College Arabic Program

Fall 2014: 6 credits
- Intermediate Arabic 21
- Modern South Asia
- Nietzsche: Will To Power
- Honors Calculus 1 & 2
- Microeconomic Theory

Spring 2015: 5 credits
- Intermediate Arabic 22
- War and Terrorism
- Worlds to Make: The Global History of International Development
- US Foreign Policy from 1900 to Present
- Intro to Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Summer '15: Tisch Fellow @ U.S. Department of Defense, OSD/CAPE

Fall 2015: Arabic Study Abroad with CET @ University of Jordan
- Intensive Advanced Modern Standard Arabic
- Intermediate Jordanian Dialect
- Jordanian Society
- History & Development of Religious Political Parties

Spring 2016: 5.5 credits
- Advanced Arabic 122
- Force, Strategy, and Arms Control
- Rise and Decay of the West
- International Economics
- Palestinian Literature and Film
- Arabic Music Ensemble (half credit)

Summer '16: Research intern @ The Syria Institute

Fall 2016: 4.5 credits
- Arabic Contemporary Media 191
- Seminar: World Wars and Nation States
- EPIIC: Order and Chaos: Diplomacy and Force in a Changing World
- Cultural History of the Modern Middle East
- Arabic Music Ensemble (half credit)

Spring 2017: 4 credits
- EPIIC: Order and Chaos: Diplomacy and Force in a Changing World
- Warrior Nations: Russia & the United States
- Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
- Visualizing Colonialism