If you are reading this right now, then congratulations! You’ve successfully allotted enough attention to stay on a webpage that isn’t a social networking site, 9gag, or one of those fascinating You-sites. It’s quite a noble thing to do, really, to answer the resounding call for the betterment of the self; and what better way than through reading! You should be proud of yourself, SOH dude/dudette – your kind is what the world needs now more than ever.
Oh, and you made it to college. No, I’m dead serious with this part: literally thousands of other people–not really any different from you–had to deal with not seeing their name on that list. But your name was there, and now you need to follow through on it. Now you’re here, sitting in front of this computer screen, brushing up on the ins and outs of this excitingly endless rabbit hole.
So what does wonderland have in store for you? Well duh, learning – and lots of it. Then there are the not-so obvious things, which is why you’re reading my article. In college you will be programmed to unlearn, or for some cases, relearn. From your very first day, your perceptions will change when it comes to…
3.) Stereotypes
In college, you’re given the rare opportunity to start over with just about everything. Y’know, clean slate. Untainted reputation. Past is past and all that jazz. That much you’re entitled to, no matter where you’re from. Sounds good, huh? Well, it is! And it should be – who would want to be defined by their past, right?
Somehow, we still fall short on that last part though. It can’t be helped sometimes: we have some good ol’ socially-constructed prejudice inside of us just waiting to be turned into words. Oh, you’re from THAT school? Do u spik ingrish? Okay, this is becoming too painful for me to type out.
Anyway, that’s the harsh reality. Do you want to be a part of that harsh reality? Wait a minute, yeah, you already are. So why not do your part in making it, I dunno, a little less harsh? For one, you can treat others like they genuinely deserve their new, clean slates, and that makes you eligible for the same treatment; especially since you’re all freshmen here. Sure, that sounded like a clever rehash of the Golden Rule, but, quite frankly… uh, fine, it was.
But it makes sense. If you think about it, these stereotypes are rooted in the so-called cliquish culture (think Mean Girls). Do you want your college narrative to be a real-life rendition of Mean Girls? Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right question. But, seriously, I’m telling you now, cliquishness will be your downfall. There are like 2000 people in your batch, and if you’ll limit yourself to who’s familiar, then you’ll be missing out. A lot.
But what about the social ladder? Well, what about it? Just because it (sadly enough) seems to be there doesn’t mean that you should acknowledge it. I personally see it as a ghost from high school: something that haunts your mind from time to time, but in the end is imaginary. That thing won’t work in college – not in this school, bro.
2.) The comfort of certainty
I’m sure you’ve heard this before. College is full of surprises! Bring an umbrella! While that second line is still a highly debatable topic between people from the ~cool~ strata, I can wholeheartedly attest to the first claim.
The thing is, no matter what course you’re getting yourself into, you literally have no idea what exactly you’ll be getting into. Sure, you have your classes, your schedules, your orgs. At best, they are there to give you a sense of structure in the otherwise chaotic mess known as life. Seriously though, nothing can and will prepare you for the landslide of events, yolo-driven or not.
For the people (like me) who have been raised with a tightly scheduled, eight hours all day errday education, there is absolutely no comfort here. Anything can happen, and y’know, for us it sucks to not have control. High school got us used to arrangement and predictability, but college has scarcely any of that. It has the bear minimum, as I mentioned a while ago: your schedule, your course. Everything else, well, you can just shrug your shoulders and make a face.
Believe me though when I say that there is comfort, still, in not knowing. For one thing, you’re no better off than the person next to you – college will be equally uncertain to you both. Then of course, there’s that pleasantness that comes with surprise. Uhm, I don’t think I should explain that any further. It should be 1) self-explanatory and 2) a surprise! Duh.
College still proves to be one hell of a rollercoaster ride, no less cray than high school’s own ride. And while we’re on that topic…
1.) “High school was the [superlative adjective here] four years of my life!”
They say that high school will be the best four years of your life. Obviously, people who say that never made it to college.
Just kidding. I honestly don’t know why my titos and parents keep on insisting on this (maybe I need to attend the homecomings?), but I still can’t tell for sure. Don’t get me wrong – high school was amazing, and I’d gladly go through it all again–stupid mistakes included–just for the experience. It’s a memory I’ll cherish up to my deathbed, where either my closest friends or I will die unexpectedly from all the laughing.
But I can’t just forget what’s in front of me now – college is the here and the now, and there are no sweet hereafters. Well, none that are certain anyway. And like I said earlier, would you want your life to be defined by what has been? Why not focus every last iota of your humanities into what is? Having this fresh chapter that is college, you essentially own so much potential just seething through your veins, awaiting your life-giving touch – and I’m not just speaking on behalf of the artists here.
So far, college has been its own brand of amazeballs. I can’t properly compare it to high school since it’s 1) not yet done and 2) it’s a different level altogether. But I can’t just box high school as ‘the best’ either when I still have three years of college to go. On the other hand, you, dear freshie, have the entire canvas in front of you. Please go make something out of it. It’s yours, entirely.
Back in third year high school, I asked an upperclassman for some tips on prom. He told me, “Prom is what you make it.” How does this fit into what you’re reading? Well, let me be cheap and juxtapose what he just said into my own message: After all that you’ve read (and more), you should probably know by now – college is what you make it.
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Benny Tañedo, 18, is a sophomore taking up philosophy. If he's not busy with World of Warcraft, then he's prolly sipping coffee on campus. He secretly wants to be an astrophysicist, but as of now he needs to deal with his slight obsession with the power of words.
