EVERYTHING I Wish I Knew Before Starting College (Q&A)

Main Ideas and Lessons

Adjusting to College

• Sebastian describes university as substantially more demanding than high school. In his view, high school often provides more support to keep students from failing, while college requires students to take greater responsibility for their progress.
• His first college courses, which were general education classes, felt relatively similar to high school. The workload became much more difficult when he began taking engineering courses.
• College passed quickly for him, despite taking five years to graduate. He recommends making time to enjoy the experience rather than focusing only on getting through it.
• He believes taking five years to earn an engineering degree can be worthwhile. It may give students more time to understand difficult subjects, reduce the pressure to finish within four years, and allow time to work while paying tuition. He notes that the best timeline depends on each student’s circumstances.

Learning from Setbacks and Studying Effectively

• Failing a course is not something to be ashamed of. Sebastian failed calculus II and linear algebra, then used those experiences to improve his study habits and time management.
• When retaking linear algebra, he participated actively, asked questions, and studied consistently. He says he did not receive below a C in his remaining college courses.
• For subjects such as physics, chemistry, and engineering, he recommends solving practice problems rather than relying mainly on reading or watching videos.

His “Cheat Sheet” Practice Method

1. Collect the practice problems you want to solve before an exam.
2. Make a single sheet containing the information and methods you think you will need.
3. Use only that sheet to work through the problems, treating the exercise like a timed exam.
4. Avoid distractions, such as checking your phone.
5. If you cannot solve a problem using the sheet, return to course materials, videos, or resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare to learn the missing concept.
6. Revise your understanding and keep practicing.

Sebastian also strongly recommends an iPad for engineering students, especially for annotating lecture PDFs, organizing notes in one place, and sharing materials with classmates.

For engineering lab reports, he recommends learning LaTeX early. Reusable formatting can make reports easier to produce and look more polished.

What Makes Engineering Challenging

• Engineering requires a shift from memorizing formulas to understanding why they work and how to manipulate them in different situations.
• Sebastian describes engineering as difficult but rewarding. He chose electrical engineering because he believed it had strong potential for future development.
• He identifies electromagnetism (ECE 3250) as his least favorite electrical engineering course. His favorite was signals and systems, largely because the professor’s teaching helped him learn to research and explain material well enough to teach it himself.
• He says engineering reports were one part of the degree he disliked, since he had expected to focus more on mathematics and building things.

Mental Health, Pressure, and Impostor Syndrome

• Sebastian advises students not to sacrifice their mental and physical well-being just to improve a grade. He says he never pulled an all-nighter during college.
• He experienced impostor syndrome, especially early in his engineering studies, when classmates seemed to know about topics he had never encountered and appeared to study constantly.
• He came to understand that engineering is broad: no one knows everything, and people in different specialties have different areas of expertise. Not knowing something is acceptable if you are willing to learn it.
• He encourages students to keep going through difficult periods while also stepping back to assess what they have accomplished. Writing down achievements and challenges can make the situation feel more manageable and clarify what to tackle next.
• He shares a particularly difficult semester in spring 2023, when challenging engineering courses, a major project, and work commitments left him overwhelmed and contributed to panic attacks. He presents this as a lesson in time management and as a reminder that successful graduates can also experience serious struggles.

Setting Goals and Managing a Busy Schedule

• Sebastian writes down his major goals for the year and places them somewhere visible, such as a whiteboard.
• He breaks larger goals into monthly goals and writes down the actions needed to achieve them. For example, a financial target should be connected to specific steps—such as how many clients or jobs a side business needs—not just stated as a desired outcome.
• During college, his classes often ran from about 1 p.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. He tried to work out before school so he would be less likely to skip exercise when tired later.
• He made videos after school, sometimes late at night after a commute, and says doing so required consistent effort and clear priorities.

Personal Background

• Sebastian identifies himself as a recent electrical engineering graduate who is interested in lifelong learning and sharing what he learns through social media.
• He says he became interested in learning about other majors by asking students about their hardest courses and what made them challenging.
• His online name, “JuicedItUp,” began with a high-school nickname, “Juice,” which came after he gained weight during a winter break. He later used “JuicedItUp” as a social media username, initially in connection with fitness content.
• He played football throughout high school, primarily as a safety.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Sebastian Ledesma (@JuicedItUp): The video’s speaker and source of the advice and personal experiences.
• Audience members: Their questions, submitted through Instagram, provide the prompts for the Q&A; they are not individually identified.
• An unnamed linear algebra professor: Mentioned in Sebastian’s account of a grading dispute and a discouraging comment. The professor is recounted by Sebastian, not presented as a separate on-screen speaker.