“How long did it take you to get that?” asked the girl at the gym, of course referring to my incredible physique (WARNING: this column may include gross exaggeration or sharp sarcasm). “All my life,” I thought as I laughed and walked out the door (and eventually woke up to reality).

All my life though, I, like most everyone else on campus, have put forth constant, intense effort – effort to learn each subject’s fundamentals, to get to college, to secure a good job, etc. That stage of my life all ends here in a couple months, yet the rest of life, the real part, then begins. As I near the end of my school days, I increasingly understand the guiding principle of college. To be cliché, college is the gateway to life. College is the point of youth. During this time in our lives, we have the chance to decide (or to figure out) who we are, who we want to be, and what we want from life.

The question of who we are seems both trivial and cliché until we try to answer it in a simple phrase or sentence. The possibilities are endless. Are we sexually promiscuous or in need of a steady relationship? Do we abhor religion or does faith guide our life choices? Do we best fit the stereotype of jock, frat boy, or academic? Big drinker, social drinker, or no drinker; socialite or homebody; punk, emo, preppy. Obviously, the most common, and most reasonable, answer is that everyone is some combination of many myriad qualities and social groups. After a few years in school, most people begin to figure out with which persona they are most comfortable.

Once we get a handle on who we are, we face the question of who we want to be. Some people remain the out-of-control party animal they were in college. Some people’s personalities evolve from youthful exuberance into a veteran placidity, full of confidence and moderation. A college degree, especially one from a respected school like the UI, allows for a smorgasbord of career and life choices that we students generally fail to appreciate. Using the intellectual tools accrued in school, we have the choice to determine what future to construct.

After recognizing the type of person we are and want to be, the most important aspect of college is discovering what we want out of life. What is important? A wife and kids? Money? Satisfying work? Fame and an exciting social life? For most students, a stable income and a secure personal life more or less comes guaranteed at some point after graduation. The careers we elect and the important yet subtle decisions we make (accounting or finance? political science or international studies? secondary or elementary education?) have a knack for greatly altering the future.

Whatever the answer to these clichéd, yet significant, life questions may be, college is the time to spelunk for answers. Everything we do in school is a subconscious quest to define our person. The clubs we join, the leadership roles we do (or do not) seek, the major and classes we elect to pursue, the places to where, and the times when, we go out, as well as the people with whom we choose to spend time all yield clues about who we are and what we want. While finding an acceptable career after graduation often seems to be the specific goal of higher education, our career merely manifests the personality that has chiseled itself. College, then, serves as the ultimate auto-exploration time in our lives, allowing us four (nee six) years to clarify our life and goals. While some might argue that high school is actually the time for self-discovery, it is actually when people are immaturely berated for differences and shunned for daring to be bold. The time to actually enjoy freedom and try new things is now.

Even in the College of Engineering, a school essentially composed of professional-in-training curricula, the most important things we learn are not the physics, math, history, or design criteria necessary to solve problems. The most important lesson is learning who we are and where we want to go. All my life I have waited to be my own person, and in a couple months, I shall finally have that opportunity.

Lee is a senior citizen in mechanical engineering and quite frankly, thinks he knows more than you.