“No,” she said. “I’m serious. You cannot come out of here unprepared for the real world. You gotta pimp every opportunity.”

By this point, I guess she noticed I was listening and turned to me to ask my name, my major and what I wanted to do with my life. I don’t remember what I said, but I’d guess it was something like, “Um, Whitney, um, I’m a junior but I just transferred and um, I think I wanna be a journalist but um … ”

I can assure you it wasn’t anything articulate, insightful or even close to confident.

I didn’t know this girl, had never met her before and have not seen her since. But she hopped on that bus with me and talked to me about pimping MSU for all it’s worth, about having all these great experiences, making all these great friends and networking in the process. She was so passionate about the whole college experience and about the phrase “pimpin’.” She was in my face, telling me I was paying too much to come here and leave with only a bachelor’s degree. It’s about a life education, she said.

She got off the bus, and, like I said, I never saw her again. I know her name (I’m not going to print it here though), but I’ve never contacted her. But I feel like I owe her a lot, because I’ve thought an awful lot about pimpin’ MSU in the last two and half years.

She’s right, you know? We all pay too much for higher education to allow it to be defined by what’s in our lecture notes. When it comes down to it, you’ll never be asked about all that class stuff in the proverbial real world. No interview will ever contain the words, “Your transcript shows you got a 3.5 in COM 200. That more than makes up for your lack of work and life experience. You’re hired.”

I promise you this will not happen. I’ve had interviews during which the boss wanted to talk to me about iPhone apps. I’m sure he barely cared what I thought of Shazam, and I’m positive he’d be apathetic about my thoughts on John Locke’s philosophy of property rights.

But don’t mistake my saying this as a call to skip your finals. Grades matter. Classes matter. But they matter in that they help you get that internship, that work study, that grant that gives you the opportunity to flex those in-class skills in the real world. And even before you take on these major tasks, you can find amazing opportunities on campus if you look hard enough. Join student organizations, speak up in class, find something you love doing and make some friends while you’re at it, even if it’s a silly job in the library (shout out to the BibSup ladies!) or something completely insane like working at The State News.

Grades, classes, internships and preparing for futures beyond MSU aside, there’s a whole other realm of experience that makes up The College Experience. It’s all that other stuff that goes on when you’re not studying or working. It’s the stuff that goes on when you’re avoiding studying and working.

It’s the late-night parties, the casual conversations with professors in hallways, the duck feeding and Beaumont picture-taking. It’s bar specials and bike rides and bonding with friends over missed assignments, missed phone calls and missed loved ones. It’s all trivial and it’s all vitally important in your development as an eventual college graduate and functioning member of society.

I’m turning my tassle Saturday at Breslin Center, and I’m sure some students reading this will be joining me. But for the rest who will remain here for another year or two or three, consider the following: Are you pimping this school for all it’s worth? Have you reached out and connected with a classmate, a professor or just some girl riding next to you on the bus? Have you seized an opportunity that scared you?

If the answer is no, you’re wasting your time and your money.

You, my friend, are not pimpin’.

Whitney Gronski is the State News editor in chief. Reach her at gronskiw@msu.edu.