We all know one. We all know a poster student who does everything right. He/she (for purposes of this article I’m going to go with she) is naturally smart, involved, has all her internships lined up, works out, and still manages to smile. This poster student seemingly graces campus in packs, there are many variations of the poster college student, but most of the time her planar form stays within the same overachieving mold.
I know many poster college students. This does not make my college life easier. In fact, it adds loads of pressure to my personal college experience and chances are, it does the same for you. This poster student is very lucky because it seems like her life is very easy when in fact, it probably isn’t. This is because college inherently sucks and I don’t think anyone really gets out unscathed, even her.
Just because these students are able to have their dad hook them up with an internship probably doesn’t mean that doesn’t affect them. If I had everything handed to me on a silver platter that would make me feel worthless; like I didn’t earn it. However, this scenario would make my life easier. Even though her resume will look great by the time she’s done with college, it does not mean it makes her any more prepared for the real world where she can’t use such a crutch. A perfect life, or perfect looking life, for that matter, can be a lot more difficult to peg than you probably realize.
I find myself doing this a lot. I find myself committing constant comparisons, always thinking about how much better my life would be if I had everything handed to me, or was able to do different things or have more money. I don’t think any of those things would actually improve my quality of life. And what’s funny is at the end of the day, the college poster child still probably wishes for the same things I do.
College students come in all shapes and sizes but I think we all inherently worry and wish for the same things. Success, internships, good grades, friendships, 15-minute orgasms… okay, maybe not the last one. But even though it’s painfully easy to wish to be the perfect college student, no one is actually a perfect college student.
The girl who gets all the awesome internships probably worked really hard to get it or her mom applied to it for her and had a connection. It’s easy to judge a situation you’re not in and be jealous, but when graduation day comes around and you two have the same degree, you will both have two unique skill sets that are both desirable, even though hers might seem better.
I would say the easiest thing to get jealous over is money, though. All the time we see brands, experiences and cars shoved in our faces, much of which is unattainable for someone who might be paying their way through school or using their own money for rent. However, just because someone else can afford a different lifestyle, does not make them a bad or ungrateful person, it just makes them a different person. That can be hard to swallow since driving a Mercedes or being able to spend the summer in Prague seems like that would make for a great life, but really those things don’t mean anything. They simply mean someone else leads a different, perhaps more privileged life, but can all stem back to what someone else’s’ preconceived idea or privilege is.
So, even though Miss Poster Student seemingly has it all, she probably doesn’t. It’s easy to get swept away with appearances and a face someone else puts on, so maybe next time you find yourself comparing, or filled with jealousy, try to gain some perspective and realize what you’re looking at, is probably just a façade.
