How to 'decide' it's impossible and live with the decision? [closed]

Question

I have 2 options:

1. I still have a very real chance to graduate with a (quite) legendary gpa, however this option is sort of throwing all of my eggs in one basket, as it makes me very committed (by limiting options) to continuing in academia.
2. Doing a part-time internship (but 30 hours/week, I was shocked too). I consider this as a much safer option.

Truth be told I've made my decision on which option to take, but I couldn't make peace with myself about the decision. Not in which option to take, but in wanting to do both. Doing both is stupid, I had confirm this stupidity myself by asking a few people, and all agree that doing both is basically impossible.

However, this wouldn't be the first time I had to choose on something like this. The last I had to decide between two tasks to focus in, I attempted to focus on both. And stupidly, I was rewarded with being able to do both (in this sense, if you award 1 point for completing one of the tasks, last year I get ~1.7/2 points by doing both).

That was done by having 2-3 hours of sleep/night on average, sustained for a whole semester, and being a hermit in general. I do not wish to go through this again, especially since I have relationships that I wish to maintain. This idea of doing both, however, keeps on haunting me. Something like, "if you can do it last time, why not this time?".

As I already made my decision, my question is how to live with the decision? It has gotten to a point where it keeps on distracting me during class, and I slowly begin toying with the idea of doing both (which is BAD).

Answer 1

A big part of being an adult is making these decisions. You will never ever have enough hours in a day to pursue everything you like, and some of these decisions come from the "what options do I sacrifice", rather than "what do I like the most". That freedom you have when everything is in your reach also comes with a price - the opportunity cost - you can not have everything at once. You have to pick where to go for a vacation (and, by extension, forgo other destinations or push them to a later date), if you choose to have kids they would also not be the very same you have imagined. Let it go. It is hard to give tips on specifically that, though - I would not say I have been personally doing anything other than sort of observing that decision and growing to accept it. But initially, it was just overpowering the emotional attachment to the other option.

And if you still have not found out that sleeping 2-3 hours a night is not sustainable... Your body will tell you soon enough. Convincing yourself that trying is not even worth it maybe requires to step on a rake a few times, but at very least do not stake your health on it. You would find these blood vessels feeding your brain are not that strong, and sleeping a couple hours short of your body needs as much as once in a few weeks' time would knock you out for the day.

Answer 2

It depends on your field, of course, but GPA is increasingly becoming sidelined in favor of other metrics where graduate student selection is concerned. If you think there is any chance you may want to continue in academia you need to demonstrate that you can produce results (via leadership, research, industry experience, etc), not just that you can get A's. Do not allow yourself to become narrowly focused on GPA. Of course you don't want an awful one, but even if you have a 4.0 your GPA will not be "legendary" as you will soon find there are many students with perfect GPAs that you will be in competition with when you apply to graduate study or jobs. I hope that helps.

Answer 3

GPA is far from the only thing admissions committees look at

They understand some people take lighter course loads and are full-time students. Some people finish in 3 years. Some students work part-time while in school. Some students don't "get serious" until Junior year.

What is the difference between a 3.7 full-time student and a 3.5 student with a 25 hour a week job?

The student who made As Freshman and Sophomore vs the student who had a bad Freshman year but made all As since?

There are also students that make a 4.0 in college.

Be sure you can get great recommendations letters.