Darica Paula, 2014

College Life Synopsis

posted on Saturday, January 11, 2014 @ 10:57 AM

Posted April 21, 2012

For quite a while, I've been less involved, if not totally uninvolved, with the blogosphere. Perhaps, I had my own set of other activities that I had to attend more importantly than blogging. Or maybe, my life's too complex to share that I couldn't find words to fit.

This afternoon, I gather my college life experiences from a time frame not too far from the present. Maybe, at least, 4 years or so. I believe that span is good enough to feed this post with substance and a little of a self-introduction.

***

Before I finished high school, I was already certain with my future's direction- I wanted to pursue either Business Administration more specifically Marketing or any Communication degree- but, the earlier weighted heavier. I took up three college entrance exams namely UPCAT, MCFCET and USTET. I took UPCAT because it was every high school graduate's dream school, at least in my own point of view back then; then, MCFCET because Miriam College was my dream school in college; and lastly, USTET, just to be safe.

My UPCAT score was not good enough to merit myself an education at Diliman; however, it's good enough for Los Banos. Laguna is too far from Quezon City and living away from my mom was the last decision I ever had to make. Yes, UP is UP. A dream school of most, the brand that carries nothing but excellence. But, I had to accept it- I couldn't leave my mom alone for this. Case closed.

MCFCET (or Miriam College Foundation College Entrance Test) was an absolute frustration to me. The exam was the hardest, or I was just caught too off-guard. I didn't know, actually. Good thing, I passed with no deficiencies. The moment I received my letter from MC, I knew right there where I wanted to entrust my future to. A college away from guys (disregarding jumping over the divisions of MC and Ateneo) was quite a relief. But then again, the tuition fee was too high for my mom to pay bi-annually. Of course, my family's financial capability is a serious issue, like it is to other families as well. Case closed, again.

And lastly, USTET- the last university listed in The Big Four. I already skipped Ateneo and La Salle (because of their towering tuition fees) and I couldn't afford to miss taking USTET. At some point, yeah, I took this for the sake of taking it, masabi lang talaga na nag-take ako. I never imagined myself being a Thomasian, seriously. But this was my life's irony: fate toyed me with the least university I would ever enroll myself in.

Yes, I am a Thomasian.

**

I entered the university with the privilege of choosing a good shift (a. 7-11am, b. 11-3pm, c. 1-5pm) for being part of the college's top 20% USTET passers. At the back of your mind, I know, you may call this a bragging right but I don't; I call it just a "luck" for having to choose the most convenient schedule for a Fairview kiddo like me. During my first few weeks, time travel was the biggest issue. 3-hour travel (back and forth) killed me, deprived me to eat thrice a day, pushed me to dive into the bed after school and woke me when the sun was no longer in sight. It was the worst thing I ever experienced in UST. Seriously.

Back to being a freshie, it was made known to me that our college, College of Commerce and Business Administration, was UST's "trash" college, where substandard people are being dumped. I lived with that kind of label and believed that they didn't know anything about our college. For want of proving something excellent, I wanted to pursue Business Economics as my major (even when I didn't like it), though I really wanted to pursue Marketing Management. But because of another degrading label buckled to Marketing, I thought, shifting my plans out of my desire and passion to something competitive and upgrading.

As my Pre-Com years passed, Financial Management kind of tickled me and made me decided to take its Qualifying Exam. And at the same time, my hunger of Marketing knowledge grew fonder, so much that the degrading label of Marketing was out-powered by my desire to excel in the field where my heart and mind truly belong. Out of fright, I skipped taking my Financial Management Exam because I was so driven to finish studying Marketing Management whose exam was scheduled a day after. I studied really hard and aimed to be part of M1 (batch's cream section), only to find out that our batch would be segmented heterogeneously. Well, at least, I studied.

I passed the exam and hoped for a good schedule. Lucky enough, I got the best schedule I know- 7am to 11am. Back to same old routine for the past two years and continued it until I finished college. Back to the degrading label I was talking about earlier, yeah, Marketing atmosphere proved me that the label was true. Even some of my professors were aware of it, but still trying to pull us out of that pit. For some time, I felt I was one of those students who didn't deserve a credit.

I even labelled myself substandard.

I got used to such self-treatment. Very few, if not nobody, proved the label was wrong. I wasn't one of them until Coach let me realize my worth. My professors' heavy-handed sermons really hurt at first but eventually turned out to be one of my primary drivers to finally go against the flow. I learned to face all the accusations against my major and removed the label out of us. I learned that when most were living the life of substandards, I still had a choice not to be one. And I ~~chose~~ dared not to be one.

I believed, fate just toyed me with something I considered a "last resort". Never did I know, it's not what fate would laugh about me, but it's something I would be more than thankful for. I would never find myself capable in a crowd of state's scholars, nor in a crowd of girls who would have focused on other things non-academic.

I may not be an Iskolar, or Miriamite, or a Thomasian carrying a Laude label after my name, but there's something more profound about being an ordinary Thomasian that I was able to grasp- a value that verbalism could not ever fully impart.

Self-value.