By Summer Crawford

Staff Writer

One of the most challenging journeys that a student will face in life is deciding what college to attend. This is the most important life decision and determines your future, right?

Wrong.

These days all I hear about is how spectacular this college is or how perfect that college is for this type of student. Whether I am walking through the halls or spending time with friends around town, the constant topic of conversation is college.

For as long as I can remember, students have been taking the college process way too seriously. Students talk about getting into an Ivy League, private or public college as if it is a life or death matter. I hate to see young, bright people lose sleep and time from obsessing over a particular university.

This ever-growing fascination with college is understandable, but the obsession has become overkill. I see students strut the hallways showing off their college attire, as if they are trying to prove to every other person how smart they are for wanting to go to this college or how high their expectations are. It is almost as if getting a college education has become more about a game rather than wanting to further their knowledge.

People play games with themselves and with each other, constantly filling their days with burdensome work loads and extracurriculars. Students from Coppell and all over the United States have become preoccupied with changing themselves to fit the college standards. It is no longer enough to just be who you truly are. No, it is about trying to prove you are the best at everything in order to sway a college admissions officer.

Like the wise and beloved singer John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Do not let yourself get caught up in trying to change yourself, or in all the work you have to accomplish, because when you do this you are not living life to the fullest. Before you know it, high school will be over, and college will be starting in the blink of an eye.

I feel my heart sinking lower and lower every single time I see students put their friends down for liking a certain college because it is not “good enough” or because it is not an Ivy League. Since when do we let rankings of schools overpower our interests and passions? I do not see why a student who is interested in majoring in art, for example, will attend a school with no art program, just because it is ranked in the top 10 universities.

Sadly, students let their college define who they are as a person instead of being true to themselves. They think it is perfectly normal to adapt their attitude and personal goals to fit a college.

This could not be farther from normal.

Picking a college should not be a competition, and it should not be based on how popular it is. I wish people were not so blinded by outer appearances and could dig deeper to find the inner truth. College is about finding yourself along the way and finding what you were born to do.

So many seniors are stressed about getting into the “right” college, which in Coppell, they deem as the Ivy Leagues or other highly ranked schools. But I want to tell everyone out there who is jumping into the college application process, that this should be a happy time where you are given the chance to figure out what you like in a school and show off your accomplishments. Take a deep breath in, everything will be alright in the end.

I keep wanting to tell people that there is much more to life than your time at college. In all reality, it does not matter if you chose the wrong university or veer off the path you had planned. It really does not matter if you go to an Ivy League school, or a public school; you still get a great education. Do not be ashamed of getting into a non-Ivy League or lower ranked school, you should be happy you had the drive to work hard and get accepted into a different college that could potentially be an even better fit for you.

So I say not to let yourself fall into the trap of defining who you are based on the college of your preference. Stick to who you are and do not let the college you go to overshadow what you most desire to get out of the experience.