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<li><p>In college there was not a lot of stress, but I never felt that I got the great experience (academically or socially) that I wanted to get. Ended up dropping out and then finishing later as a “non-traditional” student (hate that term).</p></li>
<li><p>Real life in any kind of challenging career is so much more difficult than college. Sometimes on a Thursday I’ll recall that I used to walk out of my 1:00 class and have next to nothing to do until Monday afternoon… man, I miss that.</p></li>
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<p>My son talks about being stressed…so does his girlfriend. I started college in 1965 and had the time of my life! The experience of college when young is so much more than writing papers, reading, grades. I know my son enjoys many aspects of college life and this may play into his stress since he is doing a lot but he still is required to work a whole lot harder than I ever had to as an UG. </p>
<p>I have been back to school two other times since then for graduate degrees. Was I a great student with a few years on me!</p>
<p>All through D’s college visits, her orientation, parents meetings, etc. I realized how much I wished it was ME going to college!!! I would have approached things so much differently, knowing what I know now…and having experienced all of the stuff I’ve navigated over the years. I know I’d appreciate many things that I never thinked twice about, back in the dinosaur days!</p>
<p>overseas- I bet you were not at a radical college such as UW-Madison in the late '60’s. The Vietnam war was winding down by my '71 college start, quite different from the campus closing days prior. </p>
<p>3togo- Good call on the intensity/pressure differences. A lot depends on the individual student’s personality and circumstances (finances, parents, HS) plus the particular college and major. Some of us are intense no matter what we do.</p>
<p>astro…- ditto on wanting to go back with current knowledge. The cure is to climb the hills and stairs, go down the hall to the bathroom… it helps to be young. Everytime I get nostalgic I remind myself of that, as well as that I would have to bring back my generation to populate the place. </p>
<p>Anyone else ever wonder what to do with all the accumulated experiences that only apply to past situations? Now that I know how to go through HS, college and beyond, work, get married, have and raise a child, have a house built… and all sorts of other things I’ll never do again I feel full of useless knowledge. And, of course, any wisdom is totally unwelcome by my teenage son. Thanks for listening to this aside, folks.</p>
<p>What an interesting set of comments here. I found engineering school very stressful, with a work load far in excess of anything I had experienced, or have experienced since. Even so I treasure the experience, and I know I left the place with a very different brain, and wouldn’t forgo the experience.</p>
<p>I do think most kids today have more opportunities to better prepare for such an intense academic experience (i.e. I wasn’t all that well prepared by my HS, and things did get easier as we progressed). I imagine one thing hasn’t changed - the experience of being surrounded by people with little work to do, when my friends and I were constantly swamped with homework. That was hard.</p>