Making the most at Santa Clara

By Brandon Dow

Nonetheless, my four-year experience here has allowed me to pass on advice for future graduates. I call it the "Bubble Blueprint," a comprehensive guide that advises how to thrive within the bubble -- and how to effectively break through it.

I affirm one truth: Santa Clara, in itself, is insufficient in forming a complete college education. As such, the following proposals are ideas that, if applied, will allow for a more genuine college experience.

1. Avoid students that are only concerned with grade point averages. Hanging or studying with these people is detrimental and buys you a free ticket to elevated stress, unease and ineffective thinking. Indeed, adopting this philosophy ensures you a permanent stay in "the Bubble" and removes countless opportunities to apply your education off this campus. Avoid them at all costs, unless of course you forget the due date of your next research paper.

2. Choose your friends, don't settle for them. The university really wants you to "fit in," and this pressure can cause you to make lifestyle changes that don't fit with who you actually are. If you're not feelin' who's around you, then dissociate yourself. Don't compromise your identity. As Mos Def said, "Shine your light for the world to see."

3. Remember that Santa Clara creates "Safe Space," but doesn't always implement it. The university promotes a tolerant community and diverse education, but it does this in a sunny and palm-treed utopia that eliminates the need for meaningful cross-cultural dialogue.

Indeed, our money provides a continual "buffer zone" at Santa Clara. Consequently, nothing forces us to cross paths and break down our natural insecurities to gain a deeper understanding of why and how a particular group thinks, acts and lives.

Don't get too comfortable here on campus -- you'll end up overlooking our multi-cultural and metropolitan Bay Area. This reminds me-

4. Go to San Jose! When we get too cozy on campus, remember that a much different reality exists a few miles down The Alameda. San Jose, a city that possesses a beautiful blend of cultures and traditions, also includes considerable homelessness and poverty.

Fortunately, we have a number of student groups that choose to do various service activities in the San Jose area. My suggestion: Do whatever is necessary to experience San Jose as much as possible.

Doing so will undoubtedly expand your sense of community awareness, and therein, allow you to realize that we should be cautious against becoming too engulfed in "the Bubble."

5. Don't read everything that's assigned. The higher-ups are committed to a quarter system, and therefore, we must constantly go back and forth between papers, projects, midterms, the second round of midterms, and mini-midterms. But what happens when we continuously subject our lives to this endless frenzy? We neglect a number of opportunities and relationships that are equally important in forming a comprehensive university education.

It's impossible to read every assigned page and ace every single test, and at the same time, interact with other people and environments. In less eloquent terms, it's beneficial to prioritize, and class won't always come first. Lastly, and most importantly...

6. Don't criticize without proposing an alternative. Several on-campus action groups repeatedly come under fire for their commitment to community service. Here's the deal: You don't have to agree with every idea they promote, or every measure they take. Actually, you shouldn't, and when you don't, propose an idea and plan that you find more effective in meeting the needs of that community.

So there you have it, the "Bubble Blueprint." Some of these suggestions are born out of my own practice, but others are surely from regret. Collectively, however, they represent an attempt to actively question how we choose to develop our own futures.

Santa Clara certainly upholds an exceptional standard of education, and this is something we all must value. But as a writer asked last week, what can we do to assure that our $30,000 per year tuition is not being wasted?

The answer is complicated, but the "Bubble Blueprint" provides one solution: engaging ourselves outside the university boundaries.

* Brandon Dow is a senior.