Hot Takes, Vol. 3: Stop complaining about building your resume

Stop complaining about getting your NHS hours done. Stop complaining about waking up early for morning swim practice. Stop complaining about being so busy you didn’t have time to read Macbeth for your IB english class. I’m tired of it.

As we start wrapping up the first semester of our Junior year, all I hear is complaining. Since August, people have thrown themselves into every possible extracurricular. Why? To build their “perfect” resume.

For many students at East, they have fantasized about getting into their dream college since freshman year. While, others just want to get accepted into a college. Then you hear opinions from every single family member, teacher and friend who are more than happy to give their two cents on where you should go. 

With all this pressure on our shoulders to be accepted into a college, students try to build the perfect resume. They join a club, play a sport or instrument, join the school newspaper, take all AP classes and try to get the most volunteer hours. But what they fail to realize is that they are over committing to things they aren’t necessarily passionate about.

Sure, you could love basketball and put all your energy into it. But, when you add on honors chemistry because you think the University of Southern California wants to see “honors” on your transcript, it’s hard to put the same kind of passion into the class. Because after the “New to East Club” meeting, basketball practice and volunteering up the street, you end up having one hour to do your honors chemistry homework before dinner — which we both know takes more than an hour. 

Not only does this limit our social time, but it’s teaching us a poor lesson — to do things we aren’t passionate about. Committing ourselves to too many “resume builders” makes us underappreciate the things we love and it leads us to complaining. 

Don’t look at volunteering as a task you have to get done to earn the Presidential Service Award. Do it because you want to help others. Resumes are supposed to be an authentic reflection of you, not someone who nags about community service hours. I understand that a good resume can get you into a great college. But, if you start by doing things you aren’t truly passionate about at 14 years old, what’s going to stop you from getting a random job “just to make money?”

I’m very guilty of waking up and complaining about all the work I have to do for the day. But when I actually start basketball practice, I stop complaining. When I finish volunteering, I feel better about myself. And when I have to stay late at a DECA competition, I catch up with friends and end up enjoying myself.

High school is supposed to be a time where we can explore our passions. We need to let those passions build our resumes. If your dream school doesn’t accept you because you got a “B” in honors chemistry sophomore year, should they really be your dream school?