I sometimes wonder if I’ve sold my soul. Not to be bleak or anything, but there’s definitely more left for sale. Two weeks from now I’ll be suiting up in a shirt and tie in New York City on the Weston Career Center’s Career Trek. Why? So that I can talk up investment bankers in the hopes that it will lead to an internship this summer at a financial institution to whom I will lend my soul, only to hopefully get a job there after senior year, at which point I will rip out what’s left of that soul and hand it to said investment bank on a silver platter in exchange for 100 hour work weeks and a paycheck.

That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? Well, unfortunately, that is what I, and a myriad of other poor, miserable students have sought out as a potential career path. My only comfort is that if it doesn’t work out, there’s always law school. I don’t exactly know why I want to be in finance either. I like wearing suits, the pay is good, lots of my friends do it, and I do find the subject matter relatively interesting, but I’m not passionate about it. And therein lies the rub…I’m simply passionate about succeeding.

I suspect that many here at Overachiever University feel the same way. We’ve been programmed since elementary school to crave success. We’re machines bent on cranking out A’s, running every student organization and getting into the best graduate schools or landing the best jobs. “Terminator” has gone scholastic. We’ve basically come to expect that we should be the CEO of something immediately. This is all in the name of success, but it also begs the question: What is success? I could argue that success is pursuing your passion, but come on. Few of us have the cojones to put aside the allure of a position as a banker, lawyer or doctor to pursue our passion. I’m not even particularly passionate about anything I could reasonably turn into a career. I love sports, but I’m not that talented at any of them. I love music, same deal there. Where does that leave me? Well, there’s always professional beer drinking.

This is not to say that I don’t enjoy the subjects I study, but few of us will continue to live our lives in academia (although at this point, it’s looking like I never want to leave). Our upbringing and the rigor and caliber of our school imbue us with a pre-established measure of success. This is not to say that our parents are putting this pressure on us; in fact, mine will probably be horrified when they see this article, but we’ve simply been so driven and determined for so long that I worry that anything less than “the best” will crush our collective dreams. There are those to whom this article does not apply. To those with the resolve to pursue their passion or to be content no matter the circumstance, I applaud you. You are already successful.

For those of us without that wisdom, where does it end? How long will we be barreling down the halls of The Prestige Hotel, slamming down doors with abandon, looking for validation in our careers or our standard of living? It terrifies me that it will never end because I see no way out. I’m not that brave. Hopefully I’m just young and naïve. But until I’m wise enough to pull myself out of this rat race, I wish everyone in it with me luck. I’ll see you all on some prestigious board somewhere in the future.