Giavanni Alves | Congrats on being (extra)ordinary

Ja Feel | Grappling with the idea of being mediocre

By Giavanni Alves 12/08/15 11:13pm

It’s that time of the semester again. That point when, for many students, we strongly question our validity and our futures.

This feeling of possibly not being enough, whatever that means, especially when we compare ourselves to our counterparts on this campus is, of course, nothing new.

For many of us, family or friends may have warned that it is easy to lose sight of our accomplishments and goals on a campus overflowing with scholars, inventors, researchers, etc.

The idea of being among all these people who are bound for success is exciting and motivating, sure. However, many of the students that are here have already or are currently doing cancer research, inventing, creating apps, starting and/or running companies or accomplishing some major feat that makes even the average Ivy student who was praised at their high school for their SAT scores feel mediocre.

Oftentimes, there is the classic mentality that everyone else is doing something big — “and then there’s me.” It’s easy to feel like your feats are minuscule in the shadow of other students’ achievements. Lists like the annual “Penn Undergrads You Should Know About,” filled with company founders, established performers, filmmakers and students working at top companies in the nation, are reminders of this feeling. The irony of lists like these is that they define success in a very narrow way that might not even apply to us.

One cannot compare the achievements of an engineer, a businessperson, a scientist and a politician for they are all advancing the world through a different medium. Furthermore, many students here are on the path toward a career in which titles are less rigid. That doesn’t make their success in their respective field any less valid in comparison to other fields.

Among these competing facts arises the question of the standard by which we choose to measure our own validity. Of course, this functions on an individual basis. Some will say that they are aware of their accomplishments and are unconcerned with defining their success within the confines of others’ recognition. Others may be staring at their resume through the lens of “Penn success” and labeling it mediocre. By just being Penn students, none of us are mediocre.

Our categorization and selective celebration of certain accomplishments is twofold in that it normalizes achievements that would be considered amazing elsewhere and amplifies competition with ourselves to a point that can be unhealthy.

The fact of the matter is that what previously made us extraordinary is the baseline for normal here. Being top of your graduating class with a boastful resume, an envied transcript and test scores, a list of awards and multiple talents outside of academics is not something that we as a Penn community pat each other on the back for. That praise ended with our acceptance letter to this institution.

Up until college, the thought of being normal or average probably never crossed a majority of our minds. However, in this shift of recognition we may turn to other ways to distinguish ourselves in our community, striving to fit into the formula of success at this level.

It is a major feat in it of itself to not only have been accepted here, but also to survive as a student here every day, whether this is your first semester or your eighth. That is something worth celebrating. Do not devalue yourself based on another person’s success.

At the same time, that is simply a starting point. As we compete with ourselves, it is also imperative that we ask ourselves what is enough for our specific goals. There must be a balance between recognizing what it is that already distinguishes us as individuals in society but then going forward knowing which ceilings we personally wish to break.

GIAVANNI ALVES is a College sophomore from New York.  Her email address is alvesg@sas.upenn.edu. “Ja Feel” appears every other Wednesday.

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