Dumb with a Degree

Growing up a local gal, was quite easy.  Growing up in a upper middle class, well educated, University town, with one of the best public education systems in the State on the other hand was quite hard.

In High School I wasn't dumb, but if you remember this post, you remember that I always kept myself busy with sports, field hockey, work, and hanging out with friends, and I managed to graduate with a 3.89GPA.  If it hadn't been for darned pre-calc, I might have had a shot at that 4.0...darn you Mrs. Moldenhauer. 

But when you're best friend (seen above) has a cumulative 4.3GPA, your other best friend is going to college on a full ride, and your ex-boyfriend (if that's what one would even call him) was recruited to play soccer at Stanford, it's easy to feel as if you're not quite 'fitting in'.  

For my town 'fitting in' is rockin' High School out (my other best friend went on to go to Princeton), and following it up directly with the best four year college, ever.  I kid you not here are the list of the schools my close friends went to:

Stanford

Carleton

UCLA

Pinceton

Harvard

Cal

Brown

Georgetown

just to name a few...

And here I was going to an awesome school, in fact, my school is ranked nationally as one of the best public schools in the nation, but I was left feeling dumb below average.  Compared to my peers, it seemed like I hadn't quite made it, like I hadn't done the very bestest I could in High School.  It's hard to compete with a list like this, if you know what I mean.

So after a long summer, we all went off to College to have the best four years of our lives (which I must say I did, remember this post)... and it was not until after college graduation that it hit me.

College isn't about the college you go to, it's about what you make of it (and no I don't mean how many parties you went to, or how many tests you aced, etc.).  It's about making connections, with people, with co-workers, with classmates to build the skill sets you'll utlizie the rest of your life, wherever you are going after college (traveling, work force, grad school, med school, etc.)

I will say, even after coming to this realization, I was proud of myself for graduating, and landing a job that I enjoy.  Not everyone from that list of Colleges I mentioned above was quite so lucky.

So yeah, I might not be the smartest, at times I still think about my best friends (now in Vet School, Med School, and a PhD program), and feel a tad, 'dumb'. 

 But I did do something pretty darn awesome.