I don’t know what everyone I went to college with is doing today. But the internet does, at least to some degree. And I’ve noticed some interesting differences when it comes to what the internet finds based on the person I knew.
I remember people in college who were always doing something interesting, new, or challenging. People who became resident advisors. People who sought out interesting internships. People who studied abroad. People who became tutors, campus leaders, and TAs. Intramural sports referees. Members of campus bands. Peer counselors, student academic advisors, and others who worked in the various departments on campus. Even bartenders at the campus pub. They all had something going on besides just showing up and attending class.
When I google those people, almost without exception, the internet comes back with something interesting. What they’re up to may or may not be related to their college interests, but these folks are doing something impactful, something where they’re leading and creating change, something where people would notice if they stopped showing up. It’s not an exact science, and the internet can certainly distort reality. But those who were always involved in something interesting or good appear to have continued that trend post college.
And then there were those who never quite leapt all the way into the college experience. They went to class. They might have even performed well academically. But when faced with boundless opportunities to explore, to try new things, to discover and lead and make their mark in some way, they sat back. Maybe they didn’t appreciate the real opportunity. Maybe they were waiting to be told what to do. But it wasn’t because they prioritized academics so much that they had little time for anything else, as I don’t recall this group having universally higher GPAs than those who chose to fill their time outside of the classroom with other pursuits.
And when I search for members of that group online, something interesting happens. They don’t show up. Google either has no record of them (other than the most basic sites that tell you where people with that same name have lived) or they appear as role-players in a bigger story about the company or the organization where they work. It doesn’t mean they aren’t happy and successful—they get to decide what those metrics are for themselves. But it does feel like both groups carried their college personas with them into adulthood. And doing so impacted what, where, and how they made their way after college.
Here’s what I’m hoping the college-bound notice and take from this. Those college personas were based on choices, not personality types or DNA. It wasn’t as if all of those in the first group were naturally better-wired to pursue those opportunities. They made the choice to do so. Those in the other group made a different choice.
Not everyone is allotted the same level of freedom to make those choices, as those students who pay for some or all of their college also need to work. Their circumstances may not have been their choice, but doing that work inevitably put them into the group who took as much from the college experience as they were giving to it.
College isn’t a roller coaster ride where you simply sit down and wait for everything to happen. It’s a four-year choose your own adventure. And the choices you make will inevitably impact what you do, how you do it, and how you show up, at work and on the internet, once you leave.