Imagine this: It’s the middle of winter. You wake up and it’s dark. You step outside, and it’s so cold that your fingers freeze and fall off. Can you take notes without fingers? No. Imagine this instead: you wake up at, say, 11 a.m. The sun is out. The world is awake. Maybe you brew a nice cup of pour-over coffee, watch an episode or two of Bob’s Burgers, and eat a couple spoonfuls of cookie butter. Once you’ve given your brain some time to wake up, you download the recorded lectures for the past week. You then watch them at 2x, pausing when you need to look something up or write something down, and rewinding when you miss an important point. Does real life have a rewind button? Once again, no. Done right, not going to class allows you to set your own schedule, and study when your mind is ready. Do you run the risk of not doing anything school-related for three weeks and then cramming for 18 hours a day to catch up? Sure. But those three weeks sure were wonderful, weren’t they? And besides, Pass/Fail has your back.
— Jyoti D., M1