Advance Your Career, Forget the Boy

Although some girls may argue that finding love and being in a relationship rank number one on every “normal” girl’s priority list, a recent trend shows a lot of young women are starting to wake up and avoid making career mistakes like that of Lauren Conrad from the Hills. For those who don’t remember, or the 2% of college girls out there that don’t watch the show, she chose to move in with a boy (which didn’t work out, surprise surprise!) over advancing her career and taking a job opportunity in Paris.

According to a recent study, men were more willing than women to sacrifice achievement for a romantic relationship, CNN reports.

“Researchers asked 237 undergraduates to rate the importance of goals such as financial success, career, education and contribution to society, as well as goals such as romantic relationships, marriage, children and friendship. While 51 percent of the women prioritized romantic relationships over achievement goals, more than 61 percent of men did the same.”

While the percentage difference of only 10 percent may seem minimal, I think it is definitely a step in the right direction and indicator of a shifting trend. Eventually, I hope the days of recent female college graduates sacrificing their hopes and dreams in order to follow a boy wherever he goes will be long gone.

My grandmother sacrificed a full ride scholarship to grad school at Radcliffe (Harvard for women at the time) in order to marry my grandfather and start a family. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining because without that decision, I wouldn’t be here right now typing away on my laptop at my favorite cafe. But, I can’t help but assume that she always wondered, What if?

I’m not sure if I could live with that always lurking in the back of my mind, and I hope that in the future, more and more young women decide to explore their full potential instead of automatically throwing it away for a dude.