Babson Survival Guide Part 1: Orientation
Realizing that many of our visitors are prospective students (and yes, some might actually end up at Babson), I have decided to do them a favor and create my own personal guide to surviving the life at Babson College. However, this is such a big topic that to do a good job would be an extremely long blog, even compared to my usual multi-pagers. So I have broken the guide up into several different segments, which I will try to publish every week until the guide is finished.
So today's topic is your first week at Babson--orientation. Now, before I get into this, I'd like to make a note on your pre-Babson survival. The summer before you get here, it would be a great idea to look at other options besides Babson and choose any one of them. Then send your down payment into that school and tell Babson you aren't coming any more. Trust me, you'll thank me in four years.
But I'm going to assume that you're thinking, "Oh, it can't be THAT bad. I just want a good education, and I can make the social life great. After all, it's just outside Boston, how can it possibly be anything but fun?"
Oh, how naive you are, young pre-frosh.
The day you step on campus, you will be excited. You get your brand-new laptop that soon will be inseparable from you anywhere you go on campus, and yet every day you will dream of it sailing out the window on its way to a well-overdue death. You will also be handed a dorm key by the OCL reps who seem so nice but inside are sizing up your anus to see just how hard they can screw you. You will even take that key with a smile and rush over to your new dorm room, and you will overlook with pride the nasty room that could use refurbishing to say the least and hasn't been cleaned since the last tenants did god-knows-what in there last semester. But it's ok because you're only paying over $1,000 per month for a room that has no kitchen or living room and requires you to share sleeping quarters and a bathroom with as many as three other people. Hell, you could be spending that money on a real apartment in Brookline, but you're a freshman and you think it's best to live near classes and classmates and everything that goes on at Babson.
News flash: get out of here...fast. This brings me to our first rule of survival...
Rule #1: Treat your Babson education as a business transaction.
What I mean by this is that you are not investing in a college experience here like your friends are at their respective colleges. Look at this as if you were buying a new pair of silk underwear. You need underwear because people need underwear. You looked at several different kinds, and you picked this one because it's silk and it's available. Now, you paid the cashier, you got to take your underwear home, and although it may ride up your ass all the time, you're probably better off than if you had no underwear at all, and when you tell people you wear silk underwear instead of cotton they either won't know what the difference is, or they (like you) will think the silk underwear somehow did a better job at covering your ass than the alternatives.
Confused as to what underwear has to do with Babson? Watch how well this works in translation. You need a college degree because people need college degrees. You looked at several different kinds, and you picked this one because it's Babson and it's available. Now, you paid the asshole admins (no pun intended), you got to take your degree home, and although Babson may ride up your ass all the time, you're probably better off than if you had no degree at all, and when you tell people you went to Babson instead of any other college they either won't know what the difference is, or they (like you) will think Babson somehow did a better job at covering your ass than the alternatives.
The point is this school is a transaction. You are buying a degree for about $176,000 ($44,000 x 4 years). End of transaction. Once you look at it as an "experience" or some other way to associate emotionally, you will only be disappointed.
Which brings me to my next rule:
Rule #2: Question everything.
You won't get straight answers from OCL or Babson's admins, but the peer mentors guiding you through orientation usually have some experience with Babson. If they're honest, they can be very helpful. If they say Babson is the best place ever, go ask someone else.
The truth is out there... you just need to ask questions instead of trusting whatever Babson says.
< Back to the Overview | On to Part 2 >
