Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
THE days are getting warmer, the nights are getting shorter and letters are coming in from all over the world to decide the fate of thousands of university-bound teenagers. University season is the most dreadful and exciting time for an 18-year-old. It determines the course of their next four years; the people they meet, the places they go, the jobs they get, the bonds they form.
Naturally, the application process is a whirlwind period of anxiety, hope, disappointment, confusion and hopefully, success.
But sometimes, you can't help but feel that the process is taken out of context - that suddenly the process is dehumanised, with numbers being rattled off, statistics and rankings being pitted against each other and other non-inherent factors like alumni relations tipping the scale.
Suddenly, the process is not about getting a good education - the goal becomes the university itself.
And, I can't pretend I haven't been bitten by that bug; when all you can think about is getting into a university because of its prestige. When your sole aim for working so hard was to go to that particular university because its 'the best' or 'President Obama went there' or some rubbish justification of that sort. People now trumpet the university they get accepted into as an achievement.
I don't believe in that. Getting into university is not the achievement and shouldn't be the ultimate goal. The achievement lies in all that you've done so far.
Going to university is about furthering your education, learning something new, taking a risk in life and flying solo. It shouldn't necessarily matter what university it is or how prestigious a name it has.
I'm not saying the name has no value - not at all. But it doesn't mean everything.
My mother often gives me this cheesy piece of advice: "People who want to learn can find opportunity and success wherever they go." And, maybe she's right. And, maybe I need to start listening to her more often. We go to university to learn and learning is its own prestige.
Recently, I was referred to an acquaintance, through a variety of connections, who works at Dreamworks. He's a software engineer and the technical head of lighting technique and 3D imaging in animation - a technique now invaluable in movies like Avataar.
He's worked on Kung-Fu Panda, Monsters Vs Aliens and How to Train Your Dragon among other animated movies.
Looking at his background, one can see he had a brilliant education in a well-reputed school and took the most out of his university experience. And, he's doing really well now, even though he didn't go to Yale or Princeton or some other much tooted school.
So getting into university is not as important as getting as much as possible out of the university.
I guess this worship of Ivy League universities and its cohort is partly our own fault since we immediately perk our eyebrows in interest as we ask people about their education. And, inevitably, all Disney movie teenagers end up in top notch schools after spending a year dancing around tables and bursting randomly into song.
I want to reiterate that I'm not saying that the Ivy League is lacking anything or that it isn't an excellent conglomeration of educational institutions. I'm just saying that sometimes we take for granted all the other institutions that have similar calibre or those that don't have as snazzy sounding names like CalTech or Cambridge.
But wherever you decide to go, whether it's IIT, Cardiff University or Brown University, I hope you make the most of your next few years.
Just don't be complacent, don't let it inflate your ego. Enjoy your university experience.
Getting into university is the easy part, staying there is the hard bit.
