What core message does the author want new students to grasp?

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New students are encouraged to make plans but hold them lightly, leaving room for life’s surprises
The author’s core message to new students is to carry ambitions and make plans, but not treat those plans as fixed outcomes. He argues that life rarely follows the neat sequence imagined at the start, and that the most meaningful events often come from unexpected places. He frames uncertainty as uncomfortable but necessary, because it creates possibility for a future shaped by unknown people, opportunities, and experiences.
Plans are useful, but they should not be treated as guarantees
He describes plans as providing direction and motivation, helping students take the next step. At the same time, he stresses that life does not usually offer the certainty people want, meaning plans cannot be relied on to deliver an exact predetermined path.
His own career shift shows how futures can diverge from early plans
He shares a personal example: he initially planned to study medicine, but a medical school episode in Australia did not unfold as imagined. Instead, he returned home and enrolled in biomedical engineering at UM, and the trajectory later moved into postgraduate studies, then a lectureship, and eventually a professorship, along with roles such as residential college fellow and principal, an 18-month stint as corporate comms head, and later leading a university press.
Life is understood backwards, but lived forwards through possibility
He emphasises that life can only be understood backwards, while it must be lived forwards without full certainty. Because uncertainty feels uncomfortable, he notes that students often seek reassurance that choices today will lead exactly where hoped, but life typically offers possibility rather than guarantees.
Students are not only choosing a programme, but starting a conversation with a future self
He tells students that they are not just selecting a programme; they are beginning a conversation with a future version of themselves shaped by people they have not met yet. He points to the idea that key relationships, mentorship, and even major personal milestones can arise during university years in ways not included in initial career plans.

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What core message does the author want new students to grasp?

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