For the high-achieving perfectionist applying to college, Notre Dame is the dream school. For that same high-achieving perfectionist attending college, it can become a nightmare.
Sometimes, I feel like the school community here loses the plot. I am personally of the belief that no one should be taking 15-plus credit hours while having to lead a project team, serve on a dorm committee, work an on-campus job and apply for a summer internship. And yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could name at least five people with that exact resume or one similar. That’s not to say that as a student, you shouldn’t look to maximize the many opportunities this university has to offer. They are exactly what makes this place special. However, I encourage you to ask yourself: Why am I doing this? And “for my resume” is not an answer.
Life after school is scary. There’s no doubt about that. Why not just take the safest route to a stable income and live comfortably? You can do the social work or pursue that passion project once you get set up. That’s a valid approach; the more sensible one, even. But at that point, why pay hundreds of thousands for higher education? It’s in the name, “higher” education. But what does higher mean to you? Does it mean a degree from an institution ranked higher than others, one you can slap front and center on a resume? Does it mean better alumni connections to get that investment banking job? Maybe. Or maybe it means learning a different way of thinking about the world. Maybe it means learning how to care for that world and the people you share it with. Maybe, just maybe, it means taking a perspective that is so unique to you, it leads to the creation of a whole new path forward. A job that doesn’t even exist yet. A true “dream job” that is yours and yours only.
This discovery is only possible if you pour yourself fully into what you love doing. That returns to the “why” question. I don’t think many of us, myself included, have a good enough answer when we take the time to sit down and think about all that we do. Much of that is no fault of our own, but that of the establishment. We do what we do because we have been shown or told we are “supposed to.” If we don’t take enough credits, we won’t graduate. If we don’t get a high enough GPA, we won’t be competitive in grad school. If we don’t get leadership experience, we won’t get a job. If we don’t have a job, we won’t make money. What is expected of students at Notre Dame is monumental, and that reality can feel inescapable.
But we have agency in the process. In the end, the decisions are in our hands. We don’t have to conform to any perceived standard of success. With intentional choices, we can study and do what we truly love. That is a blessing, one that so many others wish to have but can’t because they don’t have the means or fell just outside the 9% of accepted applicants. I believe we have a responsibility to take that opportunity. A responsibility to all those who dream of being in our very place, but even more so, a responsibility to ourselves.
I won’t tell you how to live your life. In the end, you may decide that the guaranteed job is not worth passing up, and nothing will stop you from getting it; no amount of class credits, no amount of extracurriculars, no amount of sacrifice. What I will ask you to do before you make that decision is look inward and ask that “why” question. Just make sure you are content with the answer.
