History repeats itself? No, life repeats itself

I just wanted to make the observation that regardless of the fact that I am now 20 (almost 21), I feel like a lot of people have the same mentality that drove most of us through high school and into top universities. I am not an exception, and I realized that I have the same work ethic I had in high school.

High school	University
Take AP/honors classes, get A's	Take hard classes (premed, engineering, math), try to get A's
Do extracurriculars, sports to be 'well-rounded'	Join a club, rise in the ranks
Join the National Honor Society, or something similar	Join a business frat/honors frat
Generally do everything possible to get into some baller $UNIVERSITY	Generally do everything possible to get into some baller $GRADPROGRAM

I don't know how many times I've had a conversation with someone in EECS or CS about WHY they do the tomfoolery that stresses them out and prevents them from enjoying the good things in life, such as loose women and drug abuse.

"Why did you write that paper?" "Grad school, man."
"Why did you take CS2xx, that's insane!" "Grad school, man"
"Why do you do so much research?" "Grad school, man"
"Why are you taking all those math classes? " "Grad school, man"
"Why'd you sleep with my girlfriend?" "Grad school, man"

Then again, I also have the EXACT same study habits as in high school. I will study as much as it takes to get A's, but I find all the other stuff (research, professional frats, etc.) to be BS that don't make a difference. In high school I didn't join clubs because I thought they were stupid and I still feel the same way....