Sarah A. Rodriguez '99 is a English concentrator in Winthrop House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.

Brrring.

"Hello?"

"Julia?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Amanda, you fool. I can't believe you don't even recognize my voice anymore."

"Amanda! Oh my God! Well, I haven't actually spoken on the phone to you since Christmas, loser. Maybe if you tried to reach out and touch someone rather than just writing all of us three-line, `I'm-really-busy-but-I'II-write-you-a-real-letter-soon' e-mails, I'd be able to remember what you actually sound like."

"I'm sorry, Julia. Things have been incredibly busy around here. I'm trying to find a summer job."

"Oh, that again."

"Listen, Julia, it's not easy. Everyone at Harvard has a job or an internship lined up already. I can't just go home and file in my uncle's office for another summer. I've got to get something good--something high-powered, or at least with a title that sounds high-powered. It's a cold cruel world, and a resume isn't worth the paper it's printed on unless you can network to support it."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. You of all people shouldn't have this attitude. Remember the two, no three summers during high school when we waitresses at the IHOP back home?"

"God, how can I forget? It was fun hanging out with you all the time. But I need to move on to bigger and better jobs."

"Dude, you sound like you're finally succumbing that `Harvard mentality' you're always complaining that everyone there has."

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, Julia, but things are at Harvard are a lot more competative than they are at most state schools."

"Are you mocking my state school?"

"Julia, I'm not mocking anything. I'm just saying things are different. Maybe it's really not this way in the real world, but the attitude around here is that if you don't have the best and most prestigious summer work experience possible, you're never going to find a decent job when you graduate."