*There's still more thoughts and stories to add, but in the meantime, here's the draft.

I'm applying to universities this winter. I've decided that it's the most stable path I can take. But before I tirelessly work on applications and shoot my shot at my dream schools, I felt like I needed to know the purpose. What does this path mean? What will I get from it?

What's the point of university?

I was always told "Just study hard, and into the best university. Be the perfect student in every aspect. Math, science, language. It'll give you a good job and good pay."

But that didn't make sense to me. It never did.

What made the best universities the best? Was there some secret sauce? A professor that discovered something we all use today, perhaps? Or what was it, what really was it, that made everyone want to study there?

I'm Asian. Coming from an Asian family, both of my parents had to take China's nationwide unified examination—a single, 9-hour long exam over the period of two days that decided the future of every Chinese high school student. Universities were split into tiers, and each had a score boundary that you had to meet. It didn't matter if you were one of the brightest minds in the country—if you didn't meet the score boundaries, you had a worse university.

Obviously, that wasn't how it worked everywhere else. Why did universities, instead of knowing how stellar I was at math and physics, want to know what my favorite song was? How my summer went? Or my favorite TV show? It seemed as if they were more interested in the how you did something and the why you did something.

Knowledge, is no longer scarce—in fact, it's practically free. The internet introduced us to the largest library available in the world. If you wanted to truly learn something, you could. Anyone, anyone, in the modern day, can learn anything in just about two weeks.

So, what's the point?

I decided to go on a year-long hunt for the answer—after all, I needed to know why I really wanted to go to university (a cheap way to some motivation as well, perhaps).

[Unfinished]

Here's what I learnt:

1. How to think is now far more important than just what to think.

It's about learning how to learn, and learn how to analyze problems from multiple perspectives.

2. Who you study with is also far more important than what you study.

Your peers with diverse perspectives is the most valuable resource that you will have at hand.

3. Talk is cheap—but also a virtue.

At the core of education is meaningful conversations. With the right people, any small talk can be profound.

4. Your perspective, opinion, and worldview are three things worth more than your textbook knowledge and your experience with a certain tool.

Where information is readily available, knowledge acquisition is far from the main point of university. University is at most, a stepping stone. It's not just about securing the good job and good pay that you dream of, but also how to become valuable to others and adapting to the fast paced, ever-changing world.

…

Work in progress