I’m a total college girl. I love wearing college sweatshirts, cheering at basketball (so much so that I cheer for the school I transferred from and the one I currently attend) or hockey games, partying at all times, supporting student government, loving the gym and dining halls, repping NU right here on CollegeCandy, playing on intramurals and familiarizing myself with all the fun trivia about my school. Example: Did you know that Northeastern University is really the first place that the Red Sox played? Yep, the Red Sox didn’t always play at Fenway. Back when they were the Pilgrims/Americans, they played at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, which is now part of our campus. The area is immortalized with a bronze statue of Cy Young.

Yes, I love college. Probably more than Asher Roth. The experience of being at a University is incredible, my social life is banging, my sister goes to school right around the corner at BU, and I live in the “big city” version of a college town. The Boston area is home to over twelve major universities and I’m familiar with all of them. Or at least their frat houses.

Here’s the thing though, I hate SCHOOL. Ever since I was a little girl I was constantly reprimanded for not focusing and not living up to my full potential. I’ve always tested well, but I hate sitting in a classroom. I love to read, but if someone gives me a reading assignment it’s like pulling teeth to complete it. I’m a bright girl, but I find that I do the bare minimum to skate by with a B- average.

To make it even worse, my father is in academics, my mother is a librarian, both have Master’s degrees and my honor-roll little sister racked up more college credits by taking APs her senior year than I did in my freshman year. In actual college. Basically, she cries if she gets an A- and I cheer for a B+. And most of my friends adore classes and wouldn’t dream of missing a day.

I just don’t get it.
I heart my campus, but I hate the classroom.

However, I have always been super into working. Even when I wasn’t old enough to work, I was always trying to scam people into buying my old toys or writing newsletters to my mother with “WANTED” ads asking her to hire me to clean the house, for a price. I started babysitting at a very young age and then moved into administrative work, photo technician, being a teller at a bank and then steadily working retail from age 16 until my sophomore year of college.

So, my life has taken a crazy turn. I fell in love with my 6 month-internship (Northeastern calls them co-ops) and I have an opportunity to extend my work even further, for another 12 months, to be exact. I’ve been working in the marketing department for a beauty company and I adore it. I thrive in a work environment. I’ll half-ass any project for Sociology but at work I’m on my grind, putting in the long hours and tackling projects. The company I work for inspires me and going to work makes me happy, unlike going to class.

I know I need my bachelor’s degree, but converting to a non-traditional education might be the right road for me. My school offers an online program where I can finish my bachelor’s degree away from campus. However, in doing so, I’d have to give up my senior year experience, the flexibility and the general awesomeness of school for a full-time job and online business classes, all at once.

And I’m not sure what I should do. I love my job and I’m honored to be considered, but is it enough to give up my last year of college? Do I suffer through the classes to get one more year of the good life, or take this job (we all know how hard they are to come by these days) and kick-start my real life now?

I have a week to make my decision so any and all advice is welcome. Help!

All I have to say is, “I’m not sure I’m going out tonight because it’s hailing fully formed snowmen,” and within in seconds I have 14 texts, 9 IMs, and 1 roommate chirping out: “We only have 12 more Mondays to go out!” And of course the countdown always makes me give in.

It’s not that I doubt I will have plenty of Mondays in my future to get drunk (recession, unemployment, YES) but it’s more like I only have 12 more Mondays to get drunk in a socially acceptable way. After that it’s drinking alone on Mondays from old Manischewitz bottles that I find in the back of the fridge. And nothing good ever follows Manischewitz (although my brother will be the only one to argue that gelfite fish follows Manischewitz and gelfite fish is good).

And as the days start winding down I find myself nostalgic for the past three years. But not only for the normal things like the nights I’ll never remember with the friends I’ll never forget (stole that quote from my 12yr old sister’s MySpace), but also for things I promised myself that I would never miss. I pass freshmen with their Styrofoam dining hall boxes and instead of trying to make them envious by bragging about my full fridge, I approach them and ask for just a peak inside…will it be greasy chicken fingers or just a box full of cocoa puffs? Either way, all I can think about is how good they have it. Endless amounts of food prepared for them! Trays to transport the food! Someone to wash the dishes after they eat the food!

It’s hard to believe that at this point sophomore year I was sitting in the dining hall eating wilted lettuce leaves complaining about how I couldn’t believe we had three more months of this garbage. Now I’m asking freshman to pass back their ID and let me see that salad bar one last time, let me see those smiling cooks under their hair nets, let me see the unrefrigerated egg salad!

But more than I miss the limitless frozen yogurt machine at the dining halls, I’m nostalgic for how dumb I was. Everyday was an adventure and I believed everyone was there to help guide me; from the saleslady who claimed I would need $300 snowpants to survive Syracuse to the the frat “brother” who forgot which room was his and insisted the hallway was suitable. I believed spring began after spring break. I believed R.A’s actually had power. I believed that liquor before beer meant I was in the clear and, most of all, I believed that the mummy I kissed during Freshman Halloween would at least wait until I walked away before grabbing my friend and kissing her.

And even though all these beliefs were eventually proved wrong (turns out brothers don’t forget which room they live in) it was still fun not knowing what was around every corner. Literally every corner had something new. An underage basement bar! A middle-eastern restaurant! The friend that I made first week and never spoke to again! Just because I’m better fed, legally able to drink, and no longer a moron, I still can’t help but miss it.

My college is pretty secluded, so when I am here, I am in a little college bubble. Sure, I take care of myself and am independent, but I am surrounded by people I know, or people who would be happy to help me at any moment. Life is pretty simple here, if you ignore the fact that we’re constantly stressed from homework and no free time. But still, if I spent four years within the college limits, I would never learn how to really take care of myself.

Getting away from this bubble at first made me nervous, but now brings me relief. Since I am so close to Boston, I can take the bus into the city and just roam around. I can eat real, non-dining-hall food, and walk past faces that I don’t recognize. And I can be on my own.

College is teaching me all about how to learn. I will leave it with a degree and lots of facts in my head. But hopefully this small-town girl will also learn how to take public transportation, walk through a crowded sidewalk, and be comfortable alone in a city. Getting off-campus can be just as educational as staying on it. And by the end of my four years, I want to say that my time her taught me not just how to learn, but how to live.

Looking back, I don’t know how I did it all without serious drugs; I was crazy. But, at the time, I knew exactly what I had to do to set myself apart from everyone else in my class in order to get into my first choice college.

I know I wasn’t alone alone. I’m sure there are many people reading this right now and thinking, “Yup. Same story for me…except I was also on the tennis and softball teams!” We all did what we had to do. With more kids applying to college than ever before, the competition was fierce; what other choice did we have?

Then there were the unfortunate ladies (and I know there are lots of you) that are reading this and thinking to themselves, “That is all you did? I was also class president and helped the starving children in Somalia and still didn’t get into my #1!”

I feel for you guys, I really do. And if you happen to be one of those bitter students who did all that work and was forced to go to your second choice school, stop reading now because you are going to get pissed.

Statisticians are now saying that, because the number of high school graduates is set to peak in the next year or two, there will be less kids applying to colleges in the coming years. Fewer applicants means less demand. Less demand means less selectivity, which means that the major competition to get into colleges is about to end.

Too bad we are already here, eh?

At first glance, this seems totally unfair – especially for those top notch students who didn’t get in where they would have liked – but it is quite the opposite. Knowing these statistics, many Ivy League schools and other popular schools are turning their attention (and financial aid money) to the students they have historically ignored: low income students, minority students, and those who normally wouldn’t aim for such esteemed institutions. This shift will present opportunities to those who never had them before, in addition to the many students who will benefit from the added diversity on campus and in the classroom.

This is also good for those of you currently enrolled in two year Community College programs; many schools are teaming up with community colleges to offer spaces to graduates to finish their last two years at a top tier institution. This is an opportunity that was non-existent until now and one that will mean a high quality education for many more promising students.

Sure, it sorta sucks for those of us who had to give up sleep, eating, and excessive TV watching in high school in order to be a part of every last activity, but all that stuff built your character and made you the person you are today! (So says my mother.) Not to mention the fact that no matter what school you ended up at, you are most likely having the best time ever. If all of that doesn’t make you feel any better, consider the possibility of this trend spreading to grad schools;

Harvard, here I come!