I Do Nothing and I'm Proud

I have no other way to say it but to be blunt. I've got a secret that makes me a bad student. My GPA may make it seem like I've got it all together, but in the eyes of many people, I'm not a good college student. I'm not involved in any on-campus clubs. (Everyone reading this piece, gasp now!)

When I first entered college, I had every intention of being involved. That idea was quickly abandoned when I discovered that all the clubs met at 6 or 7 at night. As a commuter, I just couldn't justify sticking around for hours after my class and buying dinner or driving a half hour home and back just to be involved in something that wouldn't benefit me academically.

I was kind of bummed. There was a club I was super interested in and discovered that I couldn't really be a part of due to issues of timing. But in hindsight, I'm glad for it.

I see other students on campus who are involved in every club they can manage to pencil in. And I'm happy for them. But I think that personally, my lack of "involvement" is the one thing that allows me to do as well in my classes as I do.

Instead of crunching to get those last few service hours for my sorority, I have time to give that essay one last revision before submitting it. Instead of preparing an activity for the English Club meeting, I can have some time to recharge for the week ahead.

There are people who can juggle it all, and I wish I were one of them, but I'm just not. For me, academics comes first. It's what I'm paying for.

I have seen friends get so lost in trying to be "involved" that they do poorly in their classes. I've seen people who go to clubs but can't be bothered to go to class. But the truth is, you don't have to be in a club to be involved.

I'm involved in the subjects I'm learning. I don't throw things together last minute (usually) and if a topic interests me, I'll look into it a bit more on my own time. This is what involvement is for me. Not just memorizing the facts for a test next Thursday, but caring enough about what I'm doing to expand on it.

Maybe it won't impress people on resumes or scholarship applications. The truth is that I don't care anymore. If people want to think I'm not well-rounded for pursuing a double major instead of joining some clubs, let them. I'm not sorry for being goal-oriented, for doing things because I feel like there's a purpose to doing them. I hope that future employers would like that about me. Give me a task, and I'll get it done so far in advance you might as well just give me two tasks. No detours. No stops along the way. I'm not passing Go, I'm not collecting $200. I'm getting where I want to be, the most direct way to get there.

I remember during my freshman orientation, my parents expressing their frustration about how every time we had to do anything on campus, it had to be an all day social event. I'm not a social person, neither are they, but when they told the administrator that I wasn't there to make friends, they acted incredulous and stated that I was missing "the biggest part of college."

But here's the thing. I'm not missing out on anything. I'm completely content doing my own thing and doing what makes me happy in college. After 12 years of taking classes that other people wanted me to take and having to ask permission to do...well, anything...I think I've earned the right to do what I want during the course of an education that I'm paying for. I'm happy for the people who do get involved and find groups that they're passionate about. They're different than I am, and that doesn't make either one of us better or worse.