Growing up, we’re constantly reminded to do our best whether it’s on a test or during a tryout, but what if our best isn’t enough?

Getting a job, making a team and even getting into college involves much cronyism; More often than not it’s not what you know, it’s who you know or how much money you have.

When applying for a job, applications consist of many questions. One topic in particular that caught my eye: references. Not only does it ask to list adult resources not related to you, it asks specifically if you know anyone already in the business.

Getting into sororities and fraternities isn’t just determined by looks and personality, but by riches and resources. Girls and guys have a higher chance of getting into their desired house if they know someone in or that was in that sorority or fraternity.

According to sororityrush.webs.com, when preparing for the sorority rush, the second most important thing you should prepare following appearance is recomendation letters, “A recommendation is a letter written by an alumna of a specific chapter that profiles a potential new member (PNM). It can talk about anything from what high school activities a PNM was in to how rich her parents are.”

Club sports can be very pricey depending on where you go, and if a player is good at the sport they play they might want to join one of these expensive teams. You might join for a higher level of play or just to get better exposure to colleges. If you’re good enough to make the team, the coach should make it a priority to put you on the team, right? Wrong. No matter how good you are, no matter what great aspect you would bring to the team, if you don’t have the money to make a down payment that doesn’t include traveling or hotel fees, don’t even bother trying out.

Maybe there should be a class in high school teaching us how to make good connections, and who we should be making connections with so we know what really matters when applying to things throughout life.