Less may mean more

Right this very minute, Penn students are making choices about their future. But these decisions are not all about what to major in or where to intern; most of them are much smaller. Go to class or sleep in? Take notes or Sudoku? Van Pelt or Mad 4 Mex?

Time is money, and every day we decide whether to make long-term investments or to spend on instant gratification. This binary is flawed -- learning should be enjoyable -- but it's not hard to see how many of our daily decisions are ultimately choices between "now" and "later."

We all know people that push themselves too hard or not hard enough, and a lot is at stake; after all, what are we here to do other than prepare ourselves for the rest of life while having a great time?

It's a shame if someone comes to Penn and does one of these things, but not the other.

The challenge is to find an equilibrium between work and play, and the ideal balance varies from person to person. But some of the assumptions about how we should spend our time at Penn deserve re-evaluation.

First of all, I question the notion that enrolling in more classes means getting more for your tuition. Taking more classes usually means spending less time on each, decreasing the degree of mastery you can really achieve. That's why, in many other countries, students take only two or three classes per semester.

If the time spent on your sixth class doesn't come at the expense of the other five, it's coming from your sleep or leisure time. And who's to say that five additional hours a week spent on academics is intrinsically more valuable than five hours a week helping out in the community, exploring Philadelphia, or hanging out with your best friends?

Which, in the long run, will make you happier? Which will you remember?

How we choose our classes deserves examination as well. Taking a course because it will boost your GPA or look good to a potential employer is a sad mistake. Deciding between a stimulating class and free time can be tricky, but choosing a boring class over either is the real waste of time and money.

When I asked Career Services Associate Director Peggy Curchack how students' class selections affects their chances of getting a job, she told me that employers care more about GPA than about which or how many classes are on a transcript.

Peggy also explained that, once a company selects a group of students to interview, even GPA no longer matters -- in other words, your transcript can only get you over the first hurdle.

Which brings me to the final "now" or "later" choice we make at Penn: What we do afterward. It's no secret which careers Penn grads choose. According to a Career Services survey of the Class of 2004, 39 percent of employed seniors had signed with consultant agencies or financial service institutions.

Many of them are now earning six figures while working 70 to 90 hours a week.

If you want to keep me behind a desk for that long, you'd better bring handcuffs. Slaving away for a high salary may pay off in the long run, but is it really worth sacrificing your youth to live it up in early retirement?

"One of my favorite things I heard back from a student who went into banking," Peggy said, "was that 'you don't have to figure out your life because you don't have the time.'"

When I told Peggy that these careers sounded like the fast track to a midlife crisis, she revealed that the crisis usually comes way before midlife: "Year after year, I have people come back to me and say, 'I got the Penn prestige job. And I can't do it any longer.'"

None of this is a justification for laziness or underachievement. I only suggest that students should take more time to do the things they love, as long as that doesn't involve video games or freebasing.

And if, after taking a manageable load of exciting classes while enjoying your college experience, an interviewer tells you that you don't belong at an investment bank, congratulations -- you found out two years early.

Daniel Nieh is a senior East Asian Languages and Civilizations major from Portland, Ore. Low End Theory appears on Fridays.

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