The Meaning Of Academic Life

I would like to think that the meaning of life is just to live life. Every once in a while, just go off and say, "Screw APs, screw SAT IIs, screw my B in ______" and have fun. It isn't about abandoning life... It's about embracing it. Embrace your hopes, your dreams, your aspirations. Embrace your goals of an Ivy education, but realize that not every second of every day has to be spent building that ladder to Harvard or Yale.

And to be quite honest, that ladder can't be built. College admissions are a play of luck these days, at least for the top-tier Ivys and privates. People who shouldn't be rejected are, and people who have pretty much nothing to get them in are being accepted. This year has truly been nerve-racking for seniors; I've seen a perfect A student with all 5s on his AP tests, a 2300+ SAT, plenty of extracurriculars, who strives to do his best in every aspect of life, get rejected from CIT, MIT, Stanford. College admissions aren't fair. You can't just rely on knowing you're one of the best and the brightest. Because those colleges turn away the best and brightest every year. It's about luck - are you part of those they turn away, or those they welcome with open arms?

Yet, you can't blame it all on luck. Or ethnicity, or background, or any of that. It's not all about diversity. Colleges need it, but they aren't picking based on it. Sure, Harvard probably isn't going to accept 25 kids from San Ramon, but it sure as hell isn't going to accept some farm town kid with a 1700 just because he's from a farm town. Maybe a 2150 farm kid has a greater chance than a 2300+ San Ramon kid, but to hell with that - it doesn't make that much of a difference. And to be honest, I don't think the top 25 kids of San Ramon are all Ivy League caliber. Granted, I don't know everyone at Dougherty, but I'd like to assume the people I do know are those who would be at the top. And combining those kids with the ones at Cal... Not all of us would even deserve to make the cut. Hell, I don't even know if I deserve it. I doubt I do.

So maybe we shouldn't spend our lives cramming in APs, volunteering 30 hours a week, trying to make yourself that perfect person that the Ivys want. Maybe we should just live life for life. Because there IS a life to live. We've just been ignoring it among those 800 SAT IIs, 2400 SATs, 5 APs, and A+s floating in our heads.