That’s right, I’m only spending three years in college, and, no, I don’t think I’m missing out on anything. I don’t party, I don’t drink, I don’t go out on the weekends.

In fact, my weekends are spent either at the barn with my horse, on campus studying or at home spending time with my family, and, oh yeah, still studying.

I came to college to get an education and whether that takes three years or 30 years shouldn’t matter. To me, if I can continue on to my career and grad school sooner and save money—why not?

The argument I constantly hear is that “I’m losing out on my time to ‘just be a kid.”’ But what does that mean, exactly?

If “just being a kid” means drinking so much you can’t even remember what happened the night before... count me out.

If I wanted to party my life away, I could have stayed at home, found a job and gone to parties in the local area without paying tuition and all of the other fees that go along with college.

Last time I checked a BA in Partying is not a degree, so maybe we should stop treating college like everyone is there to get that “degree.”

Stop saying that college is going to be “the best four years of your life” because it doesn’t have to take four years to get your degree — it may take more or, like me, it may take less.

This doesn’t mean that my college experience is any less than any other student’s experience.

I can enter grad school at 21 years of age and not regret that I’m moving into the workforce before most of my peers who entered college at the same time as me.

I think the biggest thing to remember when it comes to college is that it’s not about how long you spend there, but rather what you make of your time there.

While in college I have served as a staff writer for several publications, been the Editor-in-Chief of two publications, had quite a few internships, been on the executive board of clubs and served on student government.

I don’t say these things to brag. I say these things to show that no amount of time determines your success in college — only YOU can determine your success in college. Whether that takes three years or six years or 16 years — only you can write your college narrative, no one else can.

When you’re able and ready to move on to the next phase of your life, I think you should just do it.

I’ve been taught over the years that life is way too short to not live it to the fullest and live it in a way that makes you happy. It makes me happy to think about my future career. Yes, I know I’m going to have to pay all of my bills when that day comes, but I’m in college for the betterment of myself and my career.

So what if I spent the last three years studying instead of partying? It has been the best

four three years of my life, and I know the next chapter will only be even more exciting.