<p>Does this vary depending on the specific university or college?
How has your after high school experience been socially?</p>
<p>" Does this vary depending on the specific university or college?"
I guess if you go to a top ranked private school, there’s a lot less chaos on weekends, which I would like.</p>
<p>"How has your after high school experience been socially? "
People still form groups of friends, although they’re much less judgmental. Being prom king in HS gets you nowhere in college, which I like :). I try to be friendly to everyone, but some think they’re better than me, those guys are the real losers.</p>
<p>My high school was full of crazy people. Gangs, fights, riots, threats, you name it. My college is in a really small town so we don’t have any of that. It’s an entirely different group of people. Even if there are people like that, I’m not around them much because in college you’re mostly on your own (with friends, of course), and not just thrown into the crowd like in high school.</p>
<p>In college you also find more people who are ambitious like you and who like the same things you do, since you will be around the people in your major a lot. </p>
<p>Also, in college you’re there 24/7, unless you go home or commute, so your social life is not just classes and ‘who do I sit with at lunch’ but it’s very different because you’re just around these people all the time.</p>
<p>In high school I studied all day.
At Rice I have been getting high/drunk every week.
Yeah.</p>
<p>“I guess if you go to a top ranked private school, there’s a lot less chaos on weekends, which I would like.”</p>
<p>Not true. They just use coke at Princeton instead of drinking Natty…
</p>
<p>College is usually larger than HS. So, there is usually a greater variety of people - people from different places, into different things, etc. I have never met so many artists, musicians, writers, travelers, campers and kayakers, language nerds, activists, whatever. It’s simultaneously harder to find your niche but more likely that your niche is out there if you look for it! </p>
<p>People are generally more friendly/more open to meeting new people, and are more mature in college. In HS you were restricted kinda to hanging out and partying with your “group” but in college there are a lot of open activities, open parties, or just in general a lot of opportunities to drop in and meet strangers anywhere, in tons of social settings. </p>
<p>Are there still immature losers? Are there still *******s? Yeah, of course. Some of the jerks in HS never grow up…some of them will even be your coworkers or bosses or CEOs.</p>
<p>But, the difference is life is no longer a small pond. Those kinds of people have much less influence when you can just walk away from them and meet a totally chill person just around the corner.</p>
<p>I think one big thing about college social life if that you really get more say in it. In high school, chances are you had to see the same people every single day. [Maybe that’s just me with my graduating class of 20, haha.] In college, the only time you actually have to see people over and over is if they’re in class with you for 15 weeks, and even then, lots of classes are lectures that don’t involve talking to other people. If you run into someone and want to avoid them, it’s usually easy, depending on the size of the school. If you make a group of friends, you get to work around everyone’s schedule to meet more.</p>
<p>Well HS made me introverted and college now is turning me into a loner. But to each his own; everyone has their own story.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. That also goes for high school. I was a little geek in high school, but college gave me a whole new perspective on social life. While I’m still serious about my academic work, now I go to parties and meet new people more often. It is definitely more fun, but you have to pace yourself so you’re not totally worn out at the end of the week.</p>
<p>I’ll have to agree with LindsaySum, college IS what you make of it.
I was a bit introverted in HS and didn’t really go out in college.</p>
<p>Now, I go to 3-4 parties a week, as well as bar hopping in the city. You’ll meet lots of different people from class, parties, friends of friends, etc… It’s gonna be hard to keep up with who you know. But remember in the end, it’s quality over quantity. Make sure you have a tight group of friends nevertheless.</p>