College Whelm: Why Bother?

The word “college,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a society of scholars incorporated within, or in connection with, a University, or otherwise formed for purposes of study or instruction.” In other words, for most people out there in the world, college is merely another step in one’s education, and nothing much else. It’s a place to explore what one is interested in and develop skills for one’s future career and life in society.However, at Exeter, the word “college,” or the “c-word” as it is referred to by some dorms, holds far wider implications. In fact, I’d have a pretty safe bet in stating that there has been an instance every fall where a stressed out senior screams at a prep for mentioning the word college and thus “being insensitive.” And what the interesting thing is that the majority of the people would agree with the senior, that the prep should have been more considerate of how much college means to people here, especially seniors.It would not be an overstatement to say that college takes over the lives of Exonians; it is one of our primary focuses in life. A lot of us pull all-nighters to get the high grades that colleges like to see and vie for club head positions to add a few more lines in our resume. I think that if Exonians had little interest for college, a lot of people wouldn’t be here and the students would not be trying as hard in academics or extracurriculars. This may be a generalization, but the indisputable fact is that consciously or subconsciously, students yield to the college incentive in a significant way.This is not a bad thing. It is also, in my opinion, inevitable. Years ago, we decided to come to Exeter knowing how hard living alone in the middle of New Hampshire was going to be easy. But for what? For college. We attend the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy because we are all ambitious and wish to have a successful future, which includes college. In addition, the anxiety about college is partly contagious; because so many people around us freak out about it, even those of us who start out not thinking much about college begin asking themselves, “Wait, do I have to worry about college too? Is college actually a pressing matter?” And since the rest of the community seems to respond with a resounding “Yes,” our anxieties surge.Despite all the reasons for us to focus on college during our time at Exeter, a piece of advice I would like to offer to my fellow Exonians, especially lowerclassmen, is this: Try to think as little about college as possible and enjoy your time at Exeter to the fullest extent possible. Even alumni who have ended up in the nation’s best colleges lament the fact that they will never have an opportunity to attend an institution like Exeter ever again. In college, we will be busy trying to sort out what to pursue for the rest of our lives; but in high school, we’re free to explore without any risk. However, our near obsession with college hinders us from doing so; therefore, it may also be helpful to lay down our anxieties about college for now.So rather than to perceive college as a primary source of stress, it may be helpful to view it the same way most people outside of the Exeter bubble do: merely the next step in our education. Were we obsessed with going to middle school when we were in elementary school? Were we freaking out about going to high school when we were in middle school? There aren’t many differences between these steps and our current step between high school and college; college is just the next rung on the ladder. Of course, going to college seems like and is a much more significant step in our lives; but is it really worth wasting some priceless time at Exeter worrying about it? I think not.