Following my arrival at Cornell, I began considering my future much more seriously. What would I like to see myself doing in 5 years? How will I get myself there?

To answer the former question, I see myself working in my career in five years. I will complete my B.S. in Information Science in 2014 and will follow that up with a one-year M.P.S. in the same department. That brings me to May 2015, only four years and a half from how. I expect to find myself applying for full-time positions the previous semester at various tech firms such as Google, Etsy (my hands-down favorite), Hulu and other young firms. I'm working to build up my resumé and fortify my skill set with new languages, algorithms and the like.

Writing this, however, and having been a philosophy/political science/linguistics major last year at McGill, I can't help by wonder if it's all worth it. Our society dictates a certain path for future success. Those who are successful have earned a degree from an accredited institution such as Cornell, have perhaps pursued a graduate degree and go off to find a job that pays well. If only we valued our own happiness as much as our salaries, the world might be a better place. I hear talk of hopes to be millionaires and billionaires from students on campus and something about that appalls me but simultaneously excites me. Wouldn't it be great to have a net worth of over one million dollars?

But we mustn't forget that some of the happiest people on Earth live on a couple dollars a day. I wish to discover what it is they have that we are so lacking. Quality relationships with our families (the divorce rate is sky-high and I hear stories left and right about parents abandoning their children), perhaps? Or possibly an overwhelming sense of self-worth that our magazines and tabloids deny from us? If we are to have a happier future, collectively, then surely we must figure this out.

Pondering my future is a constant source of worry; not because I don't think I will be able to find a job, but because I don't wish to be a slave to my job nor dislike it. Do you know what I mean?