Confessions of a College Graduate
New Beginnings
You hear it often, especially from those who have been down the road farther than you.
“College is the best four years of your life, and it will also be the fastest.”
You really don’t think much of it, especially as a freshman. What you’re really thinking is how fast you want to get through the next four years so you can go on and become a [insert doctor, lawyer, or equivalent here]. For some of you, you go on to do just that. You get accepted into the [insert medical, law, or equivalent school/internship/program here] of your choice. If you fall in that category, then I congratulate you. I will probably need your services someday. If you don’t fall under that category, then we should probably drink wine together sometime. For others, we come to college thinking that we have the answers, make plans to follow through with these answers, and then feel defeated when these answers change.
In essence, college is a tumultuous time for us young adults.
And it is a beautiful and tragic time. There were definitely moments during my time in college where I hoped my rap career would take off, just so I would not have to deal with classes like calculus and general chemistry. I was convinced (and rightly so) that the first two years of college were basically just a series of tests (disguised as prerequisites classes) to see if you were cut out for college. I have always wondered if this could be why some graduate and professional schools are only concerned with your last sixty hours at your institution, because they know #thestruggle?
You don’t go college if you haven’t questioned why you are there in the first place.
It could be deep, existential questions like, “why am I in college…what IS college?” or it could be more practical questions like, “why am I in college…when clearly these AP/IB/AICE classes did not prep me like they were supposed to?”
My personal favorite is, “why am I in college when there are strippers making stacks by the hour?”.
Ultimately, the answer is all (in most cases) the same. We go to college, because we want to be successful. I’m not saying you can only be successful if you go to college. All paths lead to Rome, and many choose college to get there.
But how is success defined?
Do we define it ourselves or let others define it for us?
Ariana Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, recently gave a commencement speech at Smith College where she basically called for a change in the ways we define success. I suggest that when you’re not ogling over who recently got married on Facebook or stalking a celebrity on Instagram to take some time to listen to her commencement speech, because it’s good stuff. For too long we have used money and power as metrics of success. Instead, she suggests that we use “well-being, wisdom, our ability to wonder, and to give back” as a new metric. I can’t help but feel that this woman gets me.
For us new graduates out there, it’s hard not to cringe when someone asks what your plans are now and then having to give the same rehearsed spiel time after time. Don’t let that discourage you. You think you’re supposed to have all the answers now since the answers you thought you had back then were destroyed two semesters into college, but you probably won’t have them. Most adults will even tell you that they don’t have the answers and many of them are in their late adulthood. Life shouldn’t be constrained to just answers. There should also be a mix of questions, trials, and errors.
For future graduates, please enjoy your time in college. And by enjoy I really mean have fun, struggle, and question why you are there in the first place. It will be the best four years of your life…and also the quickest. Trust me.