When I was in seventh grade my dad sat me down and convinced me to go into Pre-Algebra (the higher math lane) because it would “open doors for me in the future.” Seventh grade!

How many of my classmates were pressured into the same decision? I have been given many of those talks since, and I come to expect them. For a long time I did not know there were other options besides college after high school. That is just how things are in Palo Alto.

As a junior, I am just beginning to decide what kind of college I am looking for and what will be the right environment to build my future. Unlike many of my classmates and my older sister, who always knew she wanted to be a doctor and is now studying medical technology on the east coast, I have never known exactly what I wanted.

SATs are just around the corner, and Palo Alto and the College Board says that my chances of getting into a good college depend greatly on the scores of that test, so there is pressure on the students to do well. Because of this, the SATs have become more about how well you can take a test than whether you actually know the material.

Kids in Palo Alto study hard for this test by paying for tutors, buying the special prep books, and taking SAT classes. If you have to pay for all this extra SAT material then how do people less fortunate than Palo Alto residents get good scores? The feeling is if you do not know how to take the test, you cannot do well on it.

The fact is some people need more time than others to figure out what they want with their lives and so they take the long way around with community college. George Lucas went to community college after high school which lead him to UCLA film school, and look where he is now. Honestly, the kids who need to take a detour to through community college to find their own way do not worry me as much as those who only think of college.

There are definitely students at Paly who live to get into college as if it will bring them Nirvana. In my opinion, those students are setting themselves up for a great disappointment.

High school is a time for learning, yes, but it is also about becoming an individual. Many colleges stress that they want to see unique individuals on their applications and that it is important to have extracurricular activities that focus on your interests, not the college’s. So where will you be if you work toward college your whole life and do not have interests outside of that? Life does not end when you get into college.

Paly prides itself on sending the majority of its graduating class to college every year. I plan to go to college directly after high school, too, but that is not the path everyone takes, and it is certainly not the only way to have a successful and a happy life.