After 4 years of college, I feel that the biggest lesson I’ve learned from my undergraduate career is how to find an ideal balance between who you want to be vs. who others want you to be.

The people who compose your college experience come from heterogenous backgrounds. Some liberal, some conservative. Some rich, some poor. Some international, some domestic.

Although we wade through the various friend groups to find those we feel comfortable around, we are but a cohesive group of unique individuals. Subtle differences in opinion are inevitable, and ideological compromises are frequently made to maintain the friendship we’ve invested time and effort to build. Add on to that the social pressure to agree with your dearest bffs— to what degree am I representing myself anymore?

There are benefits however, to these circumstances. I learn how others view the world as well as how and why my opinion differs from their own. I learn the types of people that share or disagree with my thoughts. I can identify the ideological compromise and that’s where I place myself. That’s how I’ve conserved myself.

College is intended to widen our perspective, a place in which our thoughts mature and grow. The past four years I’ve asked myself what is really experiencing growth here? Is it my own thoughts? Or is it the ideological amoeba that consumes dissenting minds and dictates right from wrong? Even worse, could it be possible that I am wrong and does that mean I should be consumed?

After four years, I came to the conclusion that I am not wrong. Indeed, it is a biased, ego-fueled conclusion, but I’m willing to risk the rest of my life to see how things turn out from this decision. Of course, I will still grow and mature in my thoughts as influenced by my experiences. Changes in personal opinion will be derived from logic and reason. Perhaps things will be different outside of college, but I refuse to be swayed by emotionally or politically charged rhetoric.

Life as a post-grad will be an exciting time.