An Open Letter to those in High School

College Search & Selection
1

<p>To the CC community,</p>

<p>I attend a prestigious, selective college at which most of you CCers would kill to be accepted. I also attend that school for free – on merit; I guess you could say I used to be a typical CC kid. I essentially ran my high school, and I aced the SATs. The senior superlative of “Most Likely to Succeed” went to me, and to this day, underclassmen who have never met me know who I am.</p>

<p>Back when I was a CCer endlessly posting about my anticipated excitement and naïve perception as to what college life would be like, I would have sworn I would assume the role of intellectual at college. The gist of my time on CC had to do with all the extraordinary things that would eventually come of my “friends” I made online. We were to be the next generation of Rhodes Scholars, campus activists, and mental giants at the best colleges, nationwide.</p>

<p>But something happened. I arrived on campus. I met people. Hooray for racial/ethnic/religious/geographical diversity! What is the point of intellectualism and the “diversity” at colleges today? I say the noblest lie evocated at Universities is the façade of diversity. If you are an Asian from California, you will hang out with the Asians in the Asian Club. If you are a white Southerner, you will hang out with the rest of the good ol’ boys in your fraternity (I fall in line here). If you are an active politico type, you will spend your time with the other College Republicans/Democrats scheming one of you will one day be in office and give jobs to the rest of your buddies. Athletes are mercenaries for the university and do not interact beyond their team. I can attest, the very concept of diversity is unnatural, and forced on the rare occasions it occurs. </p>

<p>Diverse as the University appears on paper, I can say that in all actually, the student body is homogeneous: everyone wants to be an investment banker, with work 130 hour work weeks post-grad. Correct that, everyone wants to be rich. All anyone cares about is the money they one day will earn, and what color their Range Rover will be painted. The only unifying factor of students at my school, and at other campuses at which I have buddies, is that everyone wants to be filthy wealthy one day. Desire for that six figure Investment Banking job is the sole common trait among kids from different cliques.</p>

<p>You might ask why I am writing this rant right now. I am writing this information for CCers as an image of what to expect at college – lots of kids just like you. Don’t expect any groundbreaking differences from your life in high school. The only intellectuals on campus are burnt out ‘60s hippies-turned-professors and the girls not pretty enough to become trophy wives.</p>

<p>Intellectualism is dead at the 21st century University. Are kids smart? Absolutely – but the only reason they care about Shakespeare or Locke is because their GPA will determine which firms they land interviews with one day. The intellectual curiosity which I imagined is absent.</p>

<p>And guess what, I’m drunk, on a Wednesday night, and I don’t care. My GPA is higher than yours, I am not socially awkward like you, and due to “networking,” I’ll get the Goldman Sachs job.</p>

<p>Yours Truly,
Fratastic</p>

<p>P.S. I'll check back in later. I'd love to hear your responses to this. </p>

<p>P.P.S. No, I won't reveal where I go to college; I love my school in spite of my rant, and would not like to see her reputation marred.</p>

2

<p>Glad to hear you are enjoying Duke.</p>

3

<p>Basically. :)</p>

4

<p>a) I don't go to Duke, though I have heard similar sentiments from a buddy there. Also, a friend at <em>GASP</em> Yale has expressed like comments. I've gotten the feeling that my observations are fairly universal.</p>

<p>b) I don't mean to sound ****ed. I love college, I do. I just was expecting the environment to be flowing with intellectual discussion, not binge drinking (whether to call the game "Beer Pong" or "Beirut" is not my idea of a great debate). Discussing a class outside of the classroom, if not impacting somehow your grade, is definitely against the norm.</p>

5

<p>Try intellectual colleges: U of Chicago, Reed, St John's, Yale, Swarthmore, for starters.</p>

6

<p>Well the problem isn't so much the people's attitude, it's the fact that salaries stagnated pretty much for like the past 25 years (well it hasn't kept up with inflation) but prices like doubled. $35k takes you nowhere now but in 1980 it used to be a decent wage.</p>

7

<p>$35k is a decent wage, if you don't buy into the suburban ethos of materialism.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Don’t expect any groundbreaking differences from your life in high school.

[/quote]

This seems like quite a revealing statement. How pro-active have you been in college? Many high schoolers go to college expecting that intellectual conversations will just flow around them. Well, big surprise, college isn't usually like that. It's what you make of it. If you're content to just sit back like in high school then yes, you're going to have a high school experience. If you take the initiative, you could do pretty much whatever you want to do.</p>

<p>I'm a white Southerner, and I can assure you that I avoided frats like the plague. I'm involved on campus- tutoring, lectoring, volunteering at the Animal Humane Society, working, and volunteering in admissions, to name a few. I love my activities, and most students feel the same way. I don't fit the mold academically either. I'm a geology/archaeology double major, planning to go to grad school in some mix of the two. I'm planning a House Course, which means I will teach my own course to fellow undergrads on a pass/fail basis on a subject (Egyptian Civilization, if I get it approved). I've taken classes in a wider variety of areas than most (chemistry, biology, geology, math, classics, English, German, philosophy, and political science), and the students are ENGAGED in learning. They're there because they want to learn, and I've talked a lot about the topics outside of class. One of my friends and I came up with away messages and "Why did the chicken cross the road?" jokes that incorporated things we had learned in Greek philosophy (i.e. Zeno: It didn't- motion is impossible); from what I've seen so far, this is not at all unusual. I'm sorry you're a bit disappointed in your college experience, but it is absurd to say this is typical.</p>

<p>Remember that your fellow students are still somewhat in the pupal stage, and they're still sorting out who they want to be and what they want to do. College be a a very overwhelming experience, and it's not surprising to see incoming students cling to engineering or pre-med because they really haven't been exposed to anything else! The superficial classmates may well turn into amazing individuals a little farther down the road.</p>

9

<p>Finally someone else willing to admit that their expectations and reality didn't coincide...and not only that, but that they enjoy reality a lot more than they would have loved their expectations...</p>

<p>The fact is that anywhere you go, if you want to find something, you'll likely find it. Even if you don't go to a prestigious school. The top 50 schools do not have an exclusive hold on intellectual discussion, just like the party schools do not have an exclusive hold on kids who drink themselves out of college.</p>

10

<p>Just an observation from someone years removed from freshman year in college: you're not looking hard enough. There are students immersed in political work, serious intellectual endeavor, study overseas, religious inquiry, environmental causes, making art and music. You just aren't going to find them at rush events or at football games. There is a huge cohort of people on campus who may seem like lemmings, but at any university there are a lot who are there because they are pursuing something other than a passion for making money in the future. They may not be making a lot of noise on campus, and they won't be wearing the latest Abercrombie offerings, but they are there.</p>

11

<p>Some folks see schools like Swarthmore as intellectual. Others see them as havens for liberal, socially inept, drug addicted misfits. It's all a matter of perspective I guess! :)</p>

12

<p>Glad to hear that you're enjoying Rice!</p>

<p>Anyways, I don't think the OP's description is the best one.</p>

<p>Sure, you'll most likely end up hanging with kids of your same type. However, those who you don't hang out with as much also heavily affect your social envioronment. Also, the intellectual aspect totally depends on your major or school and can't be generalized. If anything, the intellecutal stuff is there if you seek it. It's just that many don't.</p>

13

<p>I find this hard to believe. I'm not that far removed from college and I didn't see this at all and many of my friends and I went into investment banking. None of us gave it the first thought before senior year. Maybe, these jobs require earlier preparation now, but have to imagine you've gotten yourself into a very narrow clique.</p>

14

<p>Don't believe me? Try to explain threads like these:</p>

<p>Investment Banks' Favorite Universities
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=248074%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=248074&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>IBank's list of recruitment schools
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75179%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75179&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Investment Banking?
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=247981%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=247981&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Advice on how to get a banking internship as a freshman?
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=253383%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=253383&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>It's true- everyone at college wants to be rich as ****. Yup $$= definable success. I think people want first and foremost to be called a "success" and then yes a mansion & a porsche makes life more fun as well.</p>

<p>Yes there are intellectual conversations, however they rarer than the more common -gray's anatomy- updates.</p>

16

<p>The siren song of investment banking, lawyering, and engineering leads many students to fanatically bury themselves in their high school studies and end up at Yale, Williams, Princeton, or Harvard, because they know the big name will get them the job.</p>

<p>The desire to learn might also lead people to those places, but oftentimes, curiosity guides them to lesser-known schools-- Reeds and Grinnells and Beloits, state universities with actual socio-economic and racial diversity, or small private universities. </p>

<p>The painstaking maneuvers required to receive the top GPA in many high schools are irrelevent to learning. Thus, the people who care about learning for its own sake and not the "I-must-go-to-Harvard-or-else-I-will-not-earn-$2,000,000-annually" sort may not actually be the valedictorians*. So at schools that CCers like to laud, well-known and selective Ivies or universities or LACs, many of the people with the stats to be admitted are going to be the sort who see life as a track to a career. So it's not like every college is analagous to your own. You chose a path that will inevitably be dominated by those seeking a salary, not an education or a life-changing experience.</p>

<p>((* In my experience, the people in the top 10 are very, very intelligent. Yet the top 10 in my school is largely determined by having planned out which classes to take to maximize one's GPA-- not actual course grades. The people at my school whom I admire most for their intellectual purity generally fall in the rank 30 - 10 range. These people still get excellent grades, but they take time to explore interests even when those classes are not weighted. Of course, I can't speak for all schools or experiences. That's merely how it seems in mine.))</p>

17

<p>Top post LeChika!!! You've articulated what I've been thinking all along but have not been able to write it so succintly!</p>

<p>What college are you going to?</p>

18

<p>And here I thought I was the only one who felt this way! I too came to college as the intellectual type having been the top in my class in high school. Before college schoolwork always came before socializing, I thought I'd never drink to drunkeness, join a sorority, and planned on winning a Nobel Prize someday. Oh how college changes all of that! Don't get me wrong - I still get a bit of a high when figuring out complex chemistry or calculus or managing to decipher and interpret a 13th century religious text, but intellectualism isn't something I aspire as much to anymore. On the topic of jobs and salary, I find myself torn between what I love and what will provide me comfortable living. Investment banking holds no allure for me, but I could do quite well being a lawyer. Then there's the option of graduate school and spending more time and money to basically be an academic the rest of my life. Ah the power of university!</p>

19

<p>I don't think all colleges or all college students are as you describe. My DD, a Scottish/Irish/other mix kid, has a Canadian boyfriend, an Egyption friend, a traditional Italian friend, and a roommate on exchange from France. She doesn't seek friends "just like her" but instead prefers a diverse group. But then again, she had a very mixed group in HS as well. Diverse backgrounds and personalities. Although she had several Asian and Asian-Indian friends in HS, they chose the same colleges and basically limited themselves to their own cultural groups. I believe family had a lot to do with that decision. Their families want them to meet and marry within their own culture. One even has an arranged marriage, I believe. </p>

<p>Some people choose to stick to their own groups, because let's face it, that's known, comfortable, less threatening - safe. Others reach out to learn more about themselves and others. Isn't that what these years are all about?</p>

20

<p>Dwincho: Heh, thanks. I've been trying to spit out that sentiment for a while; I'm glad I articulated it with some success. I'm not sure where I'm headed next year yet, but I've applied early decision to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnersota.</p>