The pressure mounts as the years of high school pass to build the “ideal” college resume. Many students spend so much time participating in the wrong things that they do not enjoy the journey to the “happiness” of their ideal college. Students need to focus on doing things they enjoy rather than living too far in the future.

As I walk the hallways I hear students muttering about parents pushing them to do an internship. I see people attend the first meeting for an extracurricular to write it on their resume. I hear students wail about the possibility of rejection.

Colleges are becoming more selective by looking for well-rounded yet unique students. There is a common belief that catering to a school’s “perfect candidate” is how to stand out. Whether this is true or not, the student is missing out on time to spend with family, friends, or simply relaxation.

The idea of building a perfect resume stresses the future too much. In this day and age we miss out on the present through distractions that are supposed to better our lives.

Our happiness is measured in time and events. We are trained to capture the “perfect moment” through social media or writing it down to share with a college. We record the amount of time we spend doing something rather than how much we got out of doing it. For example, we evaluate our service by focusing on the quantity of time we dedicated rather than the quality.

We plan things by focusing on their effect on our resume, but if something is truly an enriching moment it most likely cannot be summed up in a few sentences. In this way I see people fit their lives to others expectations.
Ironically, some colleges are allowing students to build their class schedule with no restrictions. This allows students to focus their time to classes they value, rather than wasting it with requirements.

The emphasis put on the future is overdone. There is no perfect resume or perfect way to prepare for life because everyone’s lives are different. We can not fulfill a checklist to get into college. Life is unpredictable. There is a journey to get there that is different for every person.

This journey is unique and should be enjoyed more. Our time is valuable.