University Rat Race

It’s time! Everyone desires to get into the best possible university with full scholarship. Everybody wants to know every single thing about every single university in the world (i.e. UK & USA). Everyone’s “researching”, getting recommendations, asking for career assistance, deciding on futures, doing social work, getting more extra-curriculars in, smooth-talking (i.e. sucking up) potential good-recommendation-givers, giving their SATs, SAT IIs, TOEFL, this, that – everyone wants everything.

The best part is when you hear stuff like, “Oh my God, he has already applied here and it’s only October! Wow, he is so sure about his career!” and “Oh my God, he has been accepted here and there and has got scholarship!“, when actually what that person has got is this irrelevant chain mail. However, this then spreads, and everyone goes “oooooh, aaaaaah” and “shit man, screwed!“.

Everyone’s trying to out do the other, get better recommendations, apply to more colleges and ‘show’, if not actually prove, their hunger to prepare themselves for the world stage. Everyone tries to show everyone else that they know the most about universities and its application processes. But then there are people who believe that ‘life is like a leaf’, and don’t worry much about their future. Obviously these leafy people have moments of alarm when they realise they have no clue as to where their future lies, but then this ‘alarm‘ subsides more quickly than ‘everyone‘ else’s does, and they return back to where they were – examining leaves. Everyone panics, momentarily, and then everyone’s back to doing what they want, but at least ‘everyone’ gets some work done.

My point – nothing at all. I’m not trying to prove anything, just observing. It’s fun to see the competitive nature, the worry, the genuine work and the moments of pure fake-ness. The funniest thing is when people get into IIT, or some high-funda college in the U.S. or U.K., but then suddenly, next year, you find them in the American University of Dubai, because, apparently, “IIT is difficult, you know.”

I just want to enjoy this rat race, and be an integral part of it too. You know, be hypocritical. I’m learning from certain local educational institutions.

P.S. This ‘everyone’ refers to all Grade 12 students, yearning to get into universities. And hell, this is somewhat similar to the ‘prefect’ situation we had in Grade 11!