Advice for Freshman

I was perusing the Chicago Maroon web site and I hit upon advice for incoming freshmen in a new column called "Collected Wisom," compiled from advice from editors-in-chief past. Chicago is a school full of smart people. They know this. I know this. I am still constantly surprised that they accepted me. In any case, one bit of wisdom from 1994 both confirmed and assuaged my fears:

"Everyone here is smarter than you are. Whatever your favorite poem is, someone else has memorized it in the original French. Think you're the first guy in Hitchcock to build a VCR out of a roll of dimes, a paperback copy of Finnegan's Wake, and a Habitrail? Think again, pal; the last guy's had surround sound and picture-in-picture. I think a guy in Upper Flint had his screenplay bought by Tri-Star last year.

For a lot of you, coming to the U of C will be your first experience in dealing with a lot of people smarter than you. Don't try to be anyone other than who you are; don't say you've read books you haven't, and admit that you just don't understand some things."

A) Confirmed my fears: Everyone there IS smarter than I am. I don't have a favorite poem...I don't like poetry that much. I don't even know what Finnegan's Wake and Habitrails are.

B) Assuaged my fears: I won't deny I'd built myself a hefty reading list to try and keep up with all the intellectuals that will soon make up my surroundings, but I know I won't get to it. This advice is perfect for me. While I highly doubt I know more about anything that my future classmates, I'm not going to try to be someone I'm not. It's bad for me, it's bad for my friendships, it's a bad way to start out life. Remember that, wherever you are.