Your favorite UVA professors share their words of wisdom

I’ve always wondered what life advice my professors would share with me if I ever asked. The professors I have had the incredible opportunity of meeting at UVA have been some of the most intelligent, caring, and interesting people.

This being said, Ashlee MacDonald, Maddie Burke and I decided to ask some of UVA’s professors to share any advice to current or graduating students to prepare them for success.

Professor Lou Bloomfield, Physics

“Learn when to stop investing in the future and start enjoying the present. You’re all building your resume, struggling for every credit – and there is a time when that’s appropriate, BUT if you keep doing it forever you’ll run out of time and never get there. 

“Once you get set up to keep investing you always think this is step 36 there must be step 37, and even if I’m suffering now it’ll pay off in the future. There is an overrated mythical future, you don’t know if it will come or if it will be what you expect or if you know what to expect. Start enjoying the present.

“You leave here so driven to keep striving for things that seem measurable (like GPA) but finally none of that matters, it is purely a proxy for what’s in your head.

“Stop worrying about what others think of you. Everyone else is trying to be perfect, people pay way less attention to you than you think. 

“Be kind to others. Few people will say something nice to someone else without having an ulterior motive. If you want people to appreciate you it helps for you to appreciate other people.”

Professor Robert Kemp, McIntire School of Commerce

“If I could talk about one thing to young people, it would be time. Young people perceive there is no limit on time, but as you evolve in time you realize it is finite. It is absolutely the most precious commodity each of us have. Those people that live a happy life, they grasp the importance of managing time…it is not limitless, it is very precious…often the most revealing thing about someone is how they spend their time.

“Young people are in the exploratory stage of their lives, merging to adulthood. You may have a lot of people tell you who you are—parents, friends, etc.—but in the end it’s up to you. You can’t be everything to everybody. Be honest with yourself. Be pragmatic, understand the world around you. Go seek that happiness. 

“You’re all smart, you all work hard. What will differentiate you is: are you working smart, are you prioritizing? There are no Gods on this Earth, no one is perfect. The people who achieve the most recognize this, but aim to achieve the most.”

Professor Michael Levenson, English

“Keep talking to people. See their different backgrounds in the deepest way. Respect difference and be quick footed about changing your convictions when they need to be changed. You don’t want to locate happiness in some distant spot in the future – don’t think that life is going to be different after you pass through some gate.”

Professor Linda Blum, Environmental Science

“Be open to new ideas and experiences. The whole idea of being educated is that you are in a position to spot opportunities when they arrive and take advantage of them. This is the whole idea behind a liberal arts education—to make you prepared to spot opportunities.

“So many people end up not working in the area in which they get their degree…being open to ideas and taking advantage of opportunities when they come means that serendipity is an important player in anyone’s career. I certainly have not ended up where I started out. It’s nice to have a plan, but don’t be so wedded to it that you aren’t open to new ideas.”

Professor Carter Doyle, Economics

“Everyone is trying to find their passion, the tricky thing is figuring that out. Once you figure that out, everything seems to fall into place. My experience has been—when people are doing their passion they are happiest at the end of the day. There are important stages that follow our education…career and retirement are what follows but this idea [of following your passion] applies to all three.”

Professor Christopher Ali, Media Studies

“My advice to students would be to not be afraid to try on different hats. And by this I mean, don’t be afraid to try on different politics, don’t be afraid to try on different identities. Don’t be afraid to say things you don’t necessarily believe because you just want to try it out…I love it when people say things like this: I’m just thinking through what it means to be a Democrat, be a Republican, be a Socialist, be a Communist. I’m trying on these different identities.

“So if we don’t try these identities on, then by the time we get to [be] an adult, all we fall back on are the things we’re used to. And I think that if there’s one place that can encourage these different identities…it’s college. And I think that not trying on these hats does the student a disservice in the rest of their life when it gets a little bit harder to figure out who you are.”

Did we miss one of your favorite professors? E-mail us at [email protected], and we’ll add them to Part II.