Photo: Alumni Park at Night!
Now officially over the halfway point in my time at USC as an upperclassman, I can’t help but reflect on my high school self. While it’s only been two years since high school, I feel as though my goals and aspirations have changed a lot since then. While this change scared me at first, I know it was necessary for me to move even closer to my full potential.
In high school, especially senior year, I was fully focused on college. Every single day, I would stalk the r/ApplyingToCollege subreddit, better known as A2C. I would constantly read students’ stats and monitor opinions about universities. Once decision days for each university rolled around, I would refresh the respective college’s decision thread almost every 20 minutes to see exactly when the emails would come out. I really let the anticipation of college and my “success” with decisions define who I was that year.
Reflecting back, I can’t really blame myself for acting that way. College is a big deal, and I (as many of you can probably relate to) really cared about where I went (yay USC!). However, I wish I didn’t put so much emphasis on it. Spending so much time meticulously perfecting my apps and following each university means I missed out on a lot of senior activities and school celebrations. I didn’t fully acknowledge that it was my final year in high school. I came to that realization after I walked the stage with my diploma in hand.
Therefore, I think my college self has really tried, as difficult as it can be, to live in the moment. While our education is a huge part of our lives, it’s not the entirety of it. In university, your life has already begun! So, I’ve spent these past years hanging with friends into the late hours of the night, going to places I’ve never been, and connecting with professors on a deeper level. In college, you’re given a path to your degree. However, there is so much to collect on the way. USC has been an integral part of offering different pathways and showing me that there is so much more to attending classes.
There’s nothing wrong with focusing on the future and anticipating something big. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do hard things and putting all of your focus into achieving that. Yet, there’s so much to say about spending your time in the now and indulging in yourself! I’m proud of my high school self and my college self. Without one or the other, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I also truly believe that coming to USC helped me come to that realization. The resources within the university and the Viterbi School of Engineering have encouraged me to see that I’m more than my academic merit.
Fight On!
