Free at last, free at last

I’m sad to graduate Penn? I’d be lying if I told you otherwise. And I’d be lying if I told you that the thought of life in the “real world” with no paycheck from my parents and no job prospects on the horizon doesn’t make me hyperventilate. But recently, about three hours ago to be exact, as I was leaving yet another trainwreck of a midterm I adopted a zen-like attitude. Like a man who somehow finds peace in front of the firing squad I’ve accepted my fate. More than that, I’m embracing it.

You see, even though there’s a lot I’m going to miss about college — I won’t bore you with the trite list of college rituals here — there’s one thing I won’t miss: the rat race. Our whole lives we were fed this line about taking the right classes so we could take AP or IB courses which would get us into the right colleges which allegedly will get us into the right grad schools or the top positions at think tanks, i-banking firms, etc. And while I know the job force is plenty competitive at least I know from now on my life will no longer be governed by the all-mighty GPA.

As much as I’m sad to be leaving Penn, and there’s plenty of classes I wish I’d taken but didn’t, I’m looking forward to reclaiming a love of learning I haven’t had for a while. I’ve had some amazing professors and teachers over the years, but even in my favorite classes I felt learning being reduced to something rote, something that was only validated by three numbers and a decimal point. Now I’ve got a long list of books I’ve been meaning to read, more than a few of them were assigned to me the past couple of years.

As hard as it is to believe my college years are over, I still feel alright knowing that learning doesn’t end here.