I goofed off first year which was a lot of fun, and totally worth it on a personal level, but it meant when it came time to start my PhD, I barely scraped into

I goofed off first year which was a lot of fun, and totally worth it on a personal level, but it meant when it came time to start my PhD, I barely scraped into my program thanks to the GPA (even though I aced everything 2nd year onwards) and found it hard to get in to any overseas Master's programs with a scholarship. Luckily a great PhD scholarship right in my area (ubicomp, what are the odds?) showed up at the last minute at my university which I was accepted for straight away. Not everyone lucks out like that though and gets the balance of no consequences and enjoying college.