Sometime back in my high school days, I heard girls joke around about going off to school and majoring in a MRS degree. It wasn’t until I got to college that I realized that this path of education was not a joke. 

Women all around us are dedicated to getting this degree, which is obtained by attending a university with the sole purpose of getting married. The requirements for this major include, but are not limited to: having your hair, make up, and outfits perfected at all times (yup, that means your 8 a.m. chem lab); doing everything possible to prepare yourself to become the perfect housewife and stay-at-home mom (baking, decorating, and crafting skills must exceed those of the average sorority girl); and latching onto that handsome, well-behaved business, engineering, or pre-med major until he gets on one knee and pops the question. 

While I do feel entitled to give these women props for their dedication, I can’t help but feel like majoring MRS is so not the way to go. These four years are to allow you to find freedom, not to be tied down and held back. Dating in college should be fun and exciting; it should allow you to discover what kind of things you like about someone, and what kind of things you could do without. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I feel like love is something that will find you, not something that you need to transform into the ideal trophy wife to acquire.

I do have to admit that there is something slightly understandable about those who are working towards their MRS degree to assure a secure future for themselves. However, I’m a firm believer that stability in the future is a goal that can and should be reached independently. Maybe Beyoncé has me on a girl power kick right now but, seriously ladies -- what happened to our big dreams? We used to want to grow up and be doctors, fashion designers, dentists, authors. What happened that made us believe  these dreams weren’t worth the effort? Why have we lost the drive to become someone who can support themselves?               

Trust me, I love the idea of having a hot husband, a beautiful home, cute kids, and a lavish lifestyle just as much as the next girl, but you won’t spot me walking across the stage with my MRS in hand. College is about finding yourself, figuring out what you want your life to look like and not stopping until you get there. It's about finding something that you’re passionate about and working like crazy until it’s something you get to spend your life doing.

You don’t have to spend your best years focusing on locking down your other half. Find yourself, and that perfect mister will have no problem finding you.