Play hard, party hard. Ultimately, balance is key.

MATT WIEGLE/YH

By Molly Ball and Emily Bell

By the time you leave Yale, you (or your parents) will have spent about $120,000 on your education. That's enough to buy a small house in the suburbs. Although you can't go through four years at Yale converting every class to dollars and cents, you should be sure to get your money's worth.

Your parents, teachers, friends, and all the other people who have always encouraged you have a vested interest in your success. But you're not going to Yale only for their sake. You have your own expectations to meet. Your achievements from high school undoubtedly came from a powerful internal motivation. Chances are, you won't be comfortable or satisfied with mediocrity.

Nevertheless, the temptation is there. You've worked your ass off for four years in high school and now you can finally rest on your laurels. For many of you, Yale will be your first chance to let loose. Why not shatter that nerd image you carried with you throughout high school? Slack off, party, take gut classes, sleep all day.

It's true that college is a perfect opportunity to explore new identities, but your social life shouldn't become the focus of your existence. It's not a new project to take on and conquer, like the time you put everything you had into a task force to save the environment or practiced for hours a day to become a concert pianist.

Your image will survive a little nerdiness. Everyone here knows the value of hard work and hard play; no one will shun you for staying in on a Friday night to study or bringing up Sartre at a party. Chances are, the drunken frat guy next to you at Funnel Fest spent last night in a weenie bin writing a brilliant term paper. No one plays all the time. Moderation is key.

A quick glance through the Blue Book will show you how much more there is to college life than what appears in Animal House. If you're intent on taking gut classes or squeaking by with just a degree, you're wasting your time here, and you're missing a lot of the Yale experience. And don't wait till senior year to think seriously about your academic interests. If you don't plan ahead, you could be stuck with too many classes and too little time.

Focus from the beginning and decide what you want to do and what you want out of your Yale experience. The school has more to offer than an amazing array of courses; undoubtedly, you have passions beyond academics. Pursue them. Study the fliers you'll get at the Freshman Bazaar just as carefully as you examine the Blue Book. Take the time to get to know the people all around you. What they say is true: you will learn just as much outside of the classroom as inside.

It may seem overwhelming to balance all of these facets of college life. No one is expecting you to pull it off flawlessly. Just remember to keep everything in perspective and to make your choices deliberately. Unless you have another $120,000 to blow, you only have one shot at Yale.

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