When you decide to go to a school like Ole Miss, everyone has these preconceived notions of what your college experience will be. Oh, you’re rushing? Yeah, all you’re going to do is party. You’re taking bisc 160? All you’re going to do is study. You live 40 minutes from home? You’ll be there all the time.
Everyone has these ideas about what your college experience will look like, and in each case, there are different opinions about what you should and shouldn’t do.
If you don’t ever party, you’re a prude and you’ll never make friends. If you party too much, you’re just the typical sorority girl who’s come to college and gone crazy.
My morals and faith have certainly been tested since I’ve come to college, but not in the way everyone would think. I have never once felt like I HAD TO go to some wild party or do anything I was not personally comfortable with just because someone else was. I’ve also never felt that if I went somewhere, or didn’t, I am judged for it.
Instead, I’ve learned that you can go to or miss out on whatever you please, and life will go on. It’s not so much about what you do or don't do, as it is staying true to you, staying ground in what you believe, and finding people who respect that, and believe those things too.
If I had never rushed and attended my first swaps, I wouldn’t have found those people. It’s not all about the party. It’s about what you choose to do.
If you don’t study, you’re throwing away your future. If you study too much, you’re not doing enough of anything else.
My classes require me to spend more time than I’d personally like on school work. Does it hurt just a little to see all your friends hanging out on Snapchat when you’re in the library? Of course. But do you get to hang out with them plenty too? Absolutely.
You don’t have to be the kid that’s failing every class by midterms in order to have friends, and having straight A’s doesn’t mean you won’t have any friends.
Everyone knows college isn’t all about school, but that is the part you’re paying for, and like everything else in life there’s a compromise to be made. It’s not all about school. It’s about what you choose to do.
If you go home all the time, you’re missing out and not growing up. If you never go home, you’ve let college change you too much.
“There’s no place like home” and sometimes at school, you just want to be there so badly. And then there are those times you go home and realize how much you love being away at school.
But going to school close to home, and coming home, doesn’t mean you can’t handle it on your own. Just like not coming home doesn’t mean you don’t miss the people there. It’s not all about where you are. It’s about what you choose to do.
And whatever you choose to do, it should be entirely based on you, not the opinions of the world. People pleasing DESTROYS happiness, and with all of the stereotypes, double standards, and conflicted opinions of what a college life should look like, it’s not worth it to even try.
No one seems to believe there is any possible way you can do it all- be in a sorority without being a crazy party girl, and study without being a total bookworm who never does anything with her sorority, and go home some weekends and remain close to your family and friends without missing out on everything your freshmen year.
And while I’ll be the first to admit striking that balance is never perfect or easy, it’s possible. It’s your life and it’s all about what you choose to do. Life’s what you make it, and college is too.