Woooooo SENIORS! Seniors love to exclaim that they are seniors. For me, being a senior is bittersweet, and all the hype I experienced for the past three years about this magical time has just set me up for disappointment. Because of this, I wanted to give all of you a real assessment of what it is like to be a senior.
1. By senior year, you defy laws of thermodynamics and suddenly become both hotter and cooler. True.
While this phenomenon has passed me by, my classmates have become wildly good looking. Sometimes I look at fellow seniors and think, I remember you freshman year: You played the song “Sexy Bitch” on repeat and were obsessed with Taylor Swift. Now you’re a madras-pants-wearing frat star. All my roommates got at least 20 percent sexier since when I first met them. Where was I on this journey?
2. Senior year classes are easy and you never ever have to go to the library. False.
Unless you knew your major / minor 100 percent before you even got here for freshman year, your senior year is going to have more classes than you would expect. I actually did know my life plan before I got here freshman year, and my classes are still kicking my ass. I’ve never had more homework, reading, weekly quizzes and reports in my life. Most of my classes at Cornell thus far consisted of three prelims and a final, so I would mess around until the big test, study my ass off and be okay. Not to mention that the classes I’m taking now are directly applicable to what I’ll be doing next year. So applicable it’s scary. This stuff actually matters.
3. You love your classes senior year. True.
This one is true, and it’s great. Sayonara Organic Chemistry! Nice to know ya arbitrary distribution requirements! Now is the time where you’re taking the classes you always imagined you would take. Even though I have more work, at least it’s interesting.
4. Seniors drink 24 / 7. Maybe.
On the one hand, see #2. While Thursdays used to be my favorite day of the week to chill out with some brews and casually hit up Dunbar’s, no more. If I want to go out on a Thursday, I have to plan four days in advance. It’s a real struggle. Don’t even get me started about fishbowls … I miss you.
On the other hand, the senior class does enjoy it’s brews and sangria outside of CTB. Starting about Wednesday afternoon, if I walk by CTB between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., I’m almost guaranteed to see my favorite group of Hotelies enjoying a pitcher. Sometimes I join them and beg them to set me up with one of their Hotelie friends. It’s a wonderful time to catch up and get away from the hustle and bustle of Cornell by sitting exactly at the center of the hustle and bustle. Ask any senior, they’ll tell you they have a cohort of friends who seem to have nothing better to do than booze they’re afternoons away. Maybe next semester I can be like that.
5. Seniors are broke. True.
Never before have I been so poor. Once my dad sent me $20 and I almost cried. Everytime I use one of my debit cards, I warn the cashier that it might not work, not to worry if they need to come back and tell me that it was denied. It’s not even embarrassing to me anymore. Last week I was having one of these moments with the librarians at Mann when I was printing out a poster. The librarian said to me, “Just think, you have a place to live, you have clothes and water. It could be worse. Be thankful for what you have.” I thought, wow, this woman is super inspirational.
Especially because, it’s completely my fault. I might as well just hand over all cash flow immediately to Wegmans, Moonies and CTB.
6. You get to hang out with your friends all the time and make memories. False.
Hello? Best friends? Are you out there? If my roommates are reading this, they are sighing a sigh of relief because they figure that I’m alive. I haven’t seen anyone outside of a meeting or a chance sighting on the street in weeks. Some friends are flying across the country for med-school interviews, job interviews, internship interviews, the list goes on and on. Many of my friends are just holed up in the library writing honors theses or just trying to finish their college careers strong. Hey friends — let’s chill out for a second and realize that this is the last year we’ll be able to see each other with such ease. Come on, let’s make memories.
Morgan Bookheimer is a senior in the College of Human Ecology. She may be reached at [email protected]. Behind the Time appears alternate Thursdays this semester.
Original Author: Morgan Bookheimer