<p>With so much pressure to do well academically do you guys feel college was more fun and carefree in the 70s?</p>
<p>Definitely, even my dentist said if he were to have to go back through college now he probably wouldn't have made it. That can be said for most professions... but oh well, its life... just wait until the real competition kicks in for resources we take for granted such as food.</p>
<p>I agree with that. Seriously, the pressure to do well and get into now a good graduate school, it feels worse than high school. Where's the fun?!</p>
<p>Maybe it's just me, but I've never felt crazy stressed about college. I'm stressed about what to do with my life, but I don't doubt that I can do SOMETHING after college (the question is what).</p>
<p>I look at the amount of work that my son has to do in college today and it seems to me that he's doing twice the work that I did when I was in college.</p>
<p>My mom was a Theatre major in college, so I really have no basis for comparison. (And my dad went to a service institute, so...)</p>
<p>surprisingly my dad seems to think the opposite. like he visited caltech and he was amazed at how many people were socializing/goofing off on the internet. apparently back when he was there for grad school everyone studied all the time. but that might have just been him.</p>
<p><a href="%22what?!%20%20i%20send%20my%20kid%20to%20world's%20best%20playground%20for%20science%20and%20engineering,%20and%20all%20they%20do%20is%20play%20computer%20games?!%22">i</a>*</p>
<p>competition has increased since more kids are going to college and willing to give up everything. i mean how can you compete with some of theses kids that study 24/7 and more. you can say the same when it comes to entering the workforce too.</p>
<p>It seems to me that college has gotten a lot less intellectually challenging and requires a lot less work now than when I first went quite a few years ago.</p>
<p>That's not just me (I would expect it to get easier for me as I got more skilled), but it's also looking at how much my classmates seem to put into it.</p>
<p>Grade inflation has work that would have been getting Cs when I first went getting A-s now, students spend almost the same amount of time with books in front of them but they're often doing other things (email, Facebook, texting, chatting with friends) at the same time, and so on.</p>
<p>Now, I suppose it's possible that when I first went I was only paying attention to the students who were a lot like me and now I'm noticing everyone. But I'm kind of glad I got a real education back then because I don't think I'd be getting one now.</p>
<p>it's amazing how much it's changed. 30-40 years ago at my college (ucla) all you needed was a B+ average and you're in no crazy ECs or accomplishments. </p>
<p>also my dad got into one of the top 5 LACs in the country by BSing his way through. he barely graduated high school, got an above average though not stellar SAT, but he walked into the interview and somehow convinced them.</p>
<p>While college doesn't seem all that different to me from the 70's...High School sure does! The pressure in HS now is crazy and the competition to attend a good college seems off the charts. We didn't have tutors for the SAT's then...heck, I didn't even take an SAT prep course. BTW, I went to Syracuse and NYU so not too slouchy. We were much more relaxed. </p>
<p>My son's college doesn't seems any harder or more intense than mine did. The only difference is he can do all his research without leaving his room. We had to go to the library and I had to type my papers on...the dreaded typewriter and use correcto type for mistakes. Egads...how archaic can you get!</p>