Friday, November 11, 2005
why chico?
I have had several opportunities recently to talk to people and give them my "mini life story". You know what I'm talking about if you have ever been to a dinner party with your parents; their friends pull you aside for three and a half minutes and give you the third degree. Everything is fair game, including the age old favorites like "what's your favorite subject in school", "do you have a girl/boyfriend", and "what do you want to be when you grow up". Well, as I'm getting older - I'm in college now - the questions are turning more into a real "adult" conversations. Some things never change though, and the favorite question is to ask which college you attend and what your major is.
I'm noticing a trend as I tell more people that I attend Chico State, the renowned party school of the nation. (according to the 2002 playboy list, we went from #1 to #2 since 1987) This is something most Chico State students are proud of. Even I stand up a bit straighter when I tell non-college going people of my age where I go to school. The people I'm worried about are everyone else. Like my parents' friends. I tell them I go to Chico, and most have to stifle a laugh as they try to look me in the eye and ask how bad the partying is. Everyone knows. I try to explain how I don't really party all that much and I try to keep the number of drunken stupors to a minimum, but to no avail. I try to explain how I'm in a really good program which they probably can't even pronounce on their first try (mechatronic engineering with a minor in computer science anyone?), but again, to no avail. Chico has this aura about it that makes it known that every kid at Chico is a drunkard psych major with no goals.
How do I know everyone thinks this way? Did you catch American Dad last Sunday? One of the quotes was an Arabian boy who, in speaking of America, says (paraphrased): "I did study abroad once at ASU; we ranked as #2 party school behind Chico State". This was on national tv. The scary part is all my friends who were watching the episode with me started cheering! Everyone went on about how the flailing show was now once again kosher in their book and how they won't miss another episode.
More power to them, but what about when we graduate? Not all the students will think that way forever. In fact, I would bet that the day they start looking for a job their minds will change. What do we say when our prospective employer at the big engineering firm asks us where we got our degree from? I would want to turn my gaze to the floor when I mumble "Chico State", and immediately change the subject to my skillset or something else less detrimental to my resumé. I hope that it's not an issue, but it is something I think about and fear just a bit. I can only hope I get into grad school at Stanford or Cal Tech or some school with a better tract record. I'd be happy with any school that doesn't have student hazing deaths from water poisong.
And that's what really Grinds My Gears™
