In the 1980s, there was a Heinz Ketchup commercial in which a guy in a letter jacket is waiting for ketchup to come out of a glass bottle. His friends ditch him, but he doesn’t care. Later, after the ketchup has finally come out, a car full of beautiful women picks him up. I always wanted to be that guy.

And I guarantee he was an upperclassman.

In the world of students, few words carry with them as strong a connotation as the word upperclassman. Whether it is good or bad depends on the person and the situation.

In high school, it was a win-win situation.

Either you were the big stud who patrolled the hallways without the fear of ending up in an episode of “Freak and Geeks,” or you were on the other side. In this case, you were too old to be picked on, and even if you were picked on, it didn’t matter. You were an upperclassman.

However, being an upperclassman in college is a different subject entirely. Here, there is no more division of jock and geek. In the minds of many, upperclassmen are clumped together into one group in which the same expectations apply to everyone. This is called the “Upperclassmen Stereotype.”

The stereotype comes in many different forms. It is often not stated directly at a person as much as it is implied. By the time you reach your junior year of college, several things are expected of you.

Number one, and this should go without saying, you should have decided on a major. Though it got you out of many jams in the past, the word “undecided” will no longer cut it.

Furthermore, you should probably have an internship under your belt and have a good idea of what you are going to do with your life.

Number two, an upperclassman ought to know what’s up in the category of the opposite sex.

Keep in mind, the stereotype does not say that you should be engaged or even married, though many are. However, most would expect an upperclassman to have found “the one.”

So, where does that leave the rest of you? According to the stereotype, you might as well find a bike with a basket on the front because you’ll be picking up cans the rest of your days.

Now, realize that I’m only free to speak this way about these “non-conformists” because I’m one of them.

I’m a junior. I do have a major, but unfortunately, English doesn’t carry much weight in most circles. I found that out at the Career Fair.

And as far as the opposite sex goes, I still have no clue. I’ve realized that in order to find “the one,” you must first have to meet people, and I’m still working on that. I guess I just have no confidence.

For instance, there is this incredibly beautiful girl of whom I’m rather fond. Sadly, we’ve never met, but every time I see her I hear music. I hear the song “Never Gonna Get It” by En Vogue.

Like many of you, I have felt this implied stereotype. It may come in the form of a sneer or a surprised look when someone learns you haven’t had an internship. Or it comes in the form of those pity stares when you dine alone in a restaurant.

And I, too, once believed in the stereotype. In high school, I knew that by my junior year in college, I would have everything figured out. I would know exactly what I was going to do, where I was going to end up and who I was going to marry.

But guess what? I’m here, and I’m far from having it all figured out. But I know I’m not alone.

Unfortunately, the “Upperclassman Stereotype” does exist, but like most stereotypes, it is far from the truth. Every person is different with his or her own hopes and dreams.

To say that we should all be in the exact same place at this time is ridiculous. It’d be like saying Adolf Hitler was a Christian.

Sure many upperclassmen have decided what they want to do, but many haven’t. Granted, everyone will have to find some way of making a living, but it doesn’t have to be final.

There are plenty of adults I know who didn’t do something they truly wanted to do until a second, third or fourth job. And there are others I know who are still looking. Are people better off knowing what they want to do for the rest of their life by their early 20s? Who knows?

And there are also a lot of upperclassmen who have found the people with whom they want to spend the rest of their lives.

I couldn’t be happier for them. I believe that anyone who is lucky enough to find this person is blessed. However, it doesn’t mean that those who haven’t found this person should panic.

College is a very short time. To expect everyone to come out of four years with everything figured out is an unfair expectation.

There is still plenty of time to find a job you love and a person you love. Why rush and end up with the wrong ones?

To steal a line from the old Heinz Ketchup commercial, “Good things come to those who wait.”

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Jackson Lashier is a junior in English from Marshalltown.