Before I went to a prestigious Ivy League university, I attended a public community college. A typical day would look like this: class, softball practice, dinner with my family, color guard practice, and then homework. Almost every night I was lucky enough to have plenty of leftover time to hang out with my friends, spend time with my family, or just kick back and watch my favorite television show. I thought, “Man, this is the good life.” But I was told it would never be enough.
As kids, we grow up with a fairytale view of Ivy League universities. We believe that only the best and brightest go there, and upon graduation they become the next President of the United States or CEO of some big-shot company.
At the same time, we’re told college is bound to be the best four years of our lives. It’s when you’ll bloom socially and intellectually. You’ll spend your days taking all the best classes on all your favorite subjects. You’ll spend your nights participating in the activities you’ve always wanted to try and with like-minded people who will always have your back. These people will be your best friends forever. You’ll spend four years doing this then receive a piece of paper that will magically grant you a ticket to a good life, especially if it has the name of one of those eight magical Ivy League universities on it.
This is the life I had at that small local community college. But because the degree wouldn’t have said “University of Pennsylvania” on it, I was told it would never be enough. So I moved 700 miles away to get the education that would be enough, the education that would grant me that ticket to a good life. But here’s the catch that no one told me: The good life will have to wait.
At an Ivy League university, the “good life” is a relative term. “Good” compared to what? I can tell you one thing – not good compared to the community college life. There is no softball, unless you want to wake up at five o’clock in the morning for practice. There is no dinner with your family – even if they did live nearby, where would you find the time? There is no color guard, because that would be a break with the “Ivy League tradition.” And one thing is definitely for sure: There is no leftover time. If you’re hanging out with friends, it’s either because you’re having a study group, are at one of those activities that will be a resume builder, or you’re just ignoring the load of work you should be attending to.
So this begs the question: Is an Ivy League school really worth it?
It takes a special kind of person to answer yes to that question. Saying yes means giving up the good life for a better probability that you’ll find that good life once you get the degree. It means your best friend will be the one fighting for the same job you want after college, because let’s face it, here you only hang out with two kinds of people: the ones you have class with and the ones who are in your activity groups. It means risking your health, both physically and mentally.
In short, life at any Ivy League university means giving up the freedom that your college years should give you. Yes, you’re free to make your own choices – you can choose to go to that party, you can choose to get wasted, you can choose your bedtime. But you’re still not free at all; you’re bound by the ropes that are your future. You take every chance you get to get ahead – a summer internship instead of time with your friends and family, a Spring Break Away instead of living it up with your friends, a research position instead of taking your time to study and focus on you. Every choice you make becomes bound to your future.
College shouldn’t be a time to worry about your future and what job you’ll get after graduation. It should be a time of expressing your opinions and having those opinions challenged. It should be a time of fun. It should be the time of your life.
