"College is the best four years of your life." "College is the time to party." "College is the time to find yourself." All that and more has been said about college. But how many times can we hear the same things over and over again about these four years before they all lose their meaning. College is more than just a sex or booze-fest. Take these quotes as food for thought about the place where you're spending thousands.
"Every year, many, many stupid people graduate from college. And if they can do it, so can you." - John Green
Raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by stress in college. It gets the better of all of us. All it takes is that one inconvenient week of 3 tests, 2 papers, and that extra shift of work you got called into last minute. Remember, people do it all the time. You can make it.
"You didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on." - Jeannette Walls
A college degree can only get you so much. You aren't paying thousands of dollars and spending all of your time just to have the only results be a fancy piece of paper with your name and some mumbo-jumbo written on it. Make yourself an informed person, a person of substance and an all-around intellectual badass.
"A college degree is the key to realizing the American dream, well worth the financial sacrifice because it is supposed to open the door to a world of opportunity." - Dan Rather
Before you decide you just can't bring yourself to get out of bed for your 11am class, think again. All the money and time you're spending will be well worth it, as long as you make it so.
"I wouldn't advise a four-year commitment to eventually land an 8.00/hour job. Skip college. Read Wikipedia for free instead." - Jarod Kintz
Eat, sleep, work, repeat. Your life isn't building up to that. Don't just get a college education just to get paid. Get a college education to enrich yourself, to fuel the engine in your mind. I'll say it again, just be a badass.
"If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library." - Frank Zappa
The freedom in college provides a great scope of opportunity for a romantic or sexual life. But don't be so consumed with the idea of having a story to tell from the weekend that you lose sight of why you're really there.
"College is the reward for surviving high school." - Judd Apatow
Man, let's not even talk about high school. This is the world's way of patting you on the back.
"Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later." - Steve Jobs
Whenever we try to imagine the future, it may all seem like a foggy haze. What is in the beyond? What's the future going to be like. What am I even going to have for dinner tonight?! Relax. In the future, when it's all said and done, you'll be able to look back and everything will make sense. You just have to make it there.
"The day we fret about the future is the day we live childhood behind." - Patrick Rofthuss
Speaking of the future... Well, when you're fretting about how you're going to pay rent and file your taxes at the end of the year, you know you've reached a point in your life when you think back to the simpler days of crayons and nap times.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi
The original YOLO, but with an educational twist. Take it all in. Whether it's to do with your life outside of the class, or your life inside the class. Just be a sponge. Absorb it all. Your mind will retain what it needs to, and you'll be surprised how much you remember.
"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." - Neale Donald Walsch
Put one toe out of the box of your comfort zone, and before you know it, all of you will be out if it. Your experience is only as good as you make it. Stretch your boundaries. Add more to who you are as a person.
Most importantly, don't get consumed into the idea that college is supposed to be the absolute best 4 years of your life. Put it into perspective: you have your whole life left. How weird would it be to say the best 4 years were when you were creating a pile of debt and sleep deprivation? Keep looking at the bigger picture and don't stop until you reach your goals.
