"The Full College Experience" -- Overrated? Rediculous?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Alright. We all know that everyone has different experiences and opinions in college, as we can see by the many posts on this forum. How do you all feel about this:</p>

<p>What is "the great college experience"? What do we go to college for?</p>

<p>In my opinion, 90% of the college experience is ....
How can being stuck with another person in a 15'x10' room with one bathroom for 20 kids prepare you for living a normal life? Yeah, I guess it's a stepping stone for those who drop out and want to continue on to live in a 5'x5' box on the street.
Blasting music 12 hours a day and going out at 10pm, coming back drunk at 1am at least 3 days a week? Maybe if you want to become 'that immature dumbass' that can't hold a job for more than 3 weeks at a time and gets kicked out of every real-life apartment he ever gets approved to rent.</p>

<p>It just ... me off when I think about it. I hope it offers more people to learn from their mistakes before they head out to the real world.
IMO, go to college for your education. Get a good one. It's only four years, why waste it by ... around. Use the time to mature.</p>

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<p>Learning to deal with someone else’s annoying quirks is a life skill. Get married and yell at your spouse for leaving a drawer hanging open, you’ll realize pretty quickly that you need to air your grievances in a different manner.</p>

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<p>Oh man…I’m actually sorry to hear this, since I had a BLAST in my first year. I didn’t think it was ovverrated, it was everything I expected it to be and a whole lot more. In reality, I didn’t come in expecting X, Y, Z to occur, I went in with an open mind and having really awesome dorm mates only helped. </p>

<p>Learning to live with dorm mates in a small(er) room then you have at home is something that you have to get used to. Luckily no one blasted music. My roommate would play his music pretty damn loud at times–in those cases I either left the room or asked him to turn down the volume. I was also fortunate to have a very good RA–she made everyone make bathroom rules (always flush, keep area clean, don’t miss, etc HAHHAHA) On top of that, my suite happened to be co-ed, so there were way less people using the restrooms. We did such a good job of keeping the bathrooms clean that I’m sure the custodians were super surprised. Hell, there were a few times some of the girls showered in our bathroom cause it was so much cleaner. People do go out very very late and come back even later, That’s to be expected. If you are sleeping, and your roommate wakes you up, just ask him nicely to be more quiet when he enters. </p>

<p>REALITY–MANY MANY people, in my dorm, too, will screw around during the first quarter/semester since they are “free” to do what they want. You are doing yourself a very good favor by focusing purely on the academics (which is what I put as my first priority). When the quarter/semester ends, these people (if they are academically motivated, which they should be since its college) will start working harder and buckling down on the school work! </p>

<p>Give it some time, make sure you socialize, it takes some people long to adjust. I really hope that helped! Good luck!</p>

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<p>college isn’t job training, it’s an experience in itself. you have the rest of your life to pay the electric bill and work in a cubicle, but you’re only going to be young once and you should enjoy it. Now, “enjoy” doesn’t just mean crazy partying, some people just aren’t those types, but when you’re old and wrinkly, you’ll want to remember the great times you had in college and retell those hilarious stories. And I don’t even think college is the best 4 years of your life - that would mean it goes downhill from there - but it’s a time for being young and social and doing crazy things. </p>

<p>it’s entirely possible to have fun and still be responsible. I live off campus in an apartment, pay my own rent, have a part time job, get good grades and still go out at night and have fun. and most people I meet also have jobs, do well, and have fun.</p>

<p>that’s another important thing you learn in college, to balance your work life (academics/job) with social life (parties/going out). It’s important to take stuff seriously but not too seriously. Lighten up and have some fun.</p>

<p>btw, it’s ridiculous, not rediculous.</p>

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<p>So, most of you believe that students who live at home and commute, or live in single apartments and don’t go out much, will generally lack the social skills required to live a normal life?</p>

<p>Note: I’m just wondering what people think about this from what I’ve read here. None of this necessarily applies to me.</p>

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<p>ar31791- Nobody said that at all. What’s your deal? You sound like a bitter commuter or something. </p>

<p>The college is experience is different for many people, even those living on campus. So far, for me, it’s been great. I’m having loads of fun and guess what? I’m also concentrating on my studies. Just because you couldn’t find a balance, doesn’t mean it’s unachievable for others.</p>

<p>Oh, and getting drunk and partying in college does not make one an idiot who won’t be able to hold a job later on. You’d be surprised how many of the most powerful men in America partied in their younger days. Hell, look at Obama. He apparently was a party maniac, and still managed to go through Columbia + Harvard law magna cum laude, and…Well, you know the rest.</p>

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<p>Anyone that needs four years to mature into the real world is an idiot. You don’t need to learn about being independent since it’s all elementary logical. You pay your bills by the due date. If you don’t have enough money, you need to work more. If you don’t do laundry today you’ll have nothing to wear. It astounds me that college students are too stupid to live successful independent lives.</p>

<p>Partying doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to hold a job. I have a full time but but I party on my days off, coming home at 3am. It’s all about balance and responsibility. Of course I’m not partying on working days or when I have obligations early in the morning.</p>

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<p>“In my opinion, 90% of the college experience is ********.
How can being stuck with another person in a 15’x10’ room with one bathroom for 20 kids prepare you for living a normal life? Yeah, I guess it’s a stepping stone for those who drop out and want to continue on to live in a 5’x5’ box on the street.
Blasting music 12 hours a day and going out at 10pm, coming back drunk at 1am at least 3 days a week? Maybe if you want to become ‘that immature dumbass’ that can’t hold a job for more than 3 weeks at a time and gets kicked out of every real-life apartment he ever gets approved to rent.”</p>

<p>Go to community college instead and see what you think of the college experience then, when you’re living the life of a high schooler with your parents while everyone else is getting to be independent and practice real life skills they didn’t have access to at home-- even if they are screwing it up in the beginning, eventually most people hit a roadblock and realize they’re screwing up. Learning to deal with someone else, learning to ACCEPT someone else, and learning to be courteous so that person can accept you are all things you can get from dorm life. Learning to find your limits and be responsible without parental intervention is something to be gained from the college experience. Learning to do things by yourself without anyone to help you is something to be gained-- so many parents just step in right away and you never have that chance to figure it out yourself, and the advantage to being in college is that in many situations there is no harm done for a mistake or two, when in the real world you can instantly lose your job or your home. And most importantly to me, being able to be part of an environment where everyone is living and learning and achieving great things is part of the college experience. I am in an environment where I don’t have to care about anything but personal growth and education, which I think is a great environment to grow and learn in. If that’s important to you and you aren’t getting that, perhaps you picked the wrong school or the wrong group of people in the school to be around. I know in my dorm I am surrounded by freshmen who do nothing but party, but the rest of the school isn’t like that. I have to branch out a bit more to find my peers. </p>

<p>Could a lot of these things still be learned at home? Probably. I think it would be difficult if one commuted from parents house, though. I’ve been doing my own laundry and cooking my own meals since I was in elementary school, however going away to college this year and just knowing I don’t have the crutch of mom and dad to fall on if I don’t know how to do something myself is something to adjust to. No matter how independent you are, if you live at home with relatively normal parents you always know in the back of your mind that they are there to fall back on, and in college they are not. And the advantage to life on a college campus is that MANY of the rookie mistakes young adults in college make will be fixable, or at the very least of minor consequence. If you screw up out in the “real world,” you may not be so lucky. Late for class all the time? Oh, well, your grade will just suffer-- and if you’re smart lesson learned. Late for work? Enjoy being among the hordes of unemployed folks. Now you have bills to pay and you’re screwed. For many, college provides a relatively safe environment for people who have not had enough independence growing up (most people) to transition. I am not one of the people that would completely ruin their lives if they’d gone out on their own right away no college experience involved. For me it’s just about learning about myself and growing so I feel more prepared for life when I graduate, even though I’d be fine anyway. But I think you and I both know there are some people we have seen in college that seem like they probably need the next couple years to GROW UP, or they won’t make it.</p>

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<p>I think you’ve misinterpreted what the “college experience” is supposed to be.</p>

<p>The college experience isn’t supposed to be a direct stepping stone into later parts of life and give you specific training on how to live on your own, how to hold a job, or anything else like that. The whole point of the college experience is that it’s different from life at home and it helps give you a much bigger taste of independence.</p>

<p>Tell me, do you think spending time living in a foreign country is overhyped and 90% ********? It’s not really directly analogous to living in the U.S. But it makes you more well-rounded, which is the idea of the college experience.</p>

<p>You sound a whole lot like my one friend. A WHOLE lot. He maintained that the entire residential college system is *****<strong><em>. How all it does is encourage kids to be *</em></strong>**s and party without supervision and be immoral and etc etc etc. And guess what? He’s a commuter who never had the chance to live at college because of cost reasons, though of course he maintains that he wouldn’t want to anyway. But he never tried the “college experience” and really doesn’t know what he’s talking about.</p>

<p>Actually, nevermind, you’re not like him, because he maintained that the entire American educational system was complete ******** too. Well, maybe you maintain that too, but I don’t think you do because you talked about how good and important of an education you get in college.</p>

<p>You know what I’ve learned so far by being on my own and in college? That if you want something done you have to take the initiative, and that there’s a whole lot of stuff I took for granted. I’m sick, but I don’t even know where you’re supposed to GO for medical care around here, or how my medical insurance applies… I need to late-drop a course, but I can’t just “go to the office” to fix it, and instead I have to play phone tag with people I’ve never even seen before hoping that they’re the ones who can actually help me out… I’ve discovered that everything is a limited resource when you’re on your own. Whereas before I knew there’d always be something to eat at home, now I have to carefully balance what I buy and when…</p>

<p>I would have learned NONE of this stuff had I not actually gone to college and lived there on my own, and I had nothing even close to a pampered lifestyle unless you’re one of those people who consider anyone that’s not from a third-world country to be pampered.</p>

<p>In fact, before I came to college, I had no idea how anything worked at all really. If anything needed to be done I’d ask one of the adults in my life what I was supposed to do and they’d just go off and do stuff behind the scenes that eventually lead to it happening. I didn’t ASK for it to happen this way, it just did. But now, even after only a month of college, I feel confident that if I REALLY had to I could go off and live on my own without the support of even a college. Do I still have a lot to learn? Yeah. But in only a month I’ve come very far.</p>

<p>Oh, and educational experiences aside, the “college experience” is FUN. If you can have loads of fun WHILE getting your college education, why don’t you?</p>

<p>Besides, isn’t there some statistic out there that people who life off campus for their freshman year are 20% more likely to fail out or something?</p>

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<p>It’s all about learning how to deal with other people, even people you hate. Your rant? A manifestation of your contact with your first real life lesson.</p>

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<p>ar31791,
You’re talking like a little btch here.
You have what is called a loser mentality</p>

<p>It does not help you</p>

<p>Its your choice whether to keep this attitude or lose it, but if you keep it, you will sound like a homo and no one will want to be around you.</p>

<p>something to think about…</p>

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<p>I made a post for you to express your opinions, and all you do it bash mine? Nice. You’re all majoring in political science?</p>

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<p>I’m just wondering why you are so angry? </p>

<p>Relax. </p>

<p>If you go to college, go with an open mind. If you think “90% is ****” - - don’t bother because with that attitude it will be wasted on you!</p>

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<p>no dude, read my post again, there is a constructive message in it</p>

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<p>Collegeboss, no, your entire message was directed at me, which is not what I made this thread for.
If you search around, there are many varying opinions on this issue. I just wanted to know what the opinions were on CC.</p>

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<p>Just because you go to college doesn’t mean you’re going to blast music 12 hours a day and come back drunk 3 nights a week. Besides, that doesn’t even have any bearing on someone holding a job; you can still do work AND party as long as you balance it. I know people who do that and are perfectly fine. Part of college is to be free for a while, to be independent and be able to fool around; at the same time, another part of it is to mature and be able to balance partying with responsibility. I think it’s really valuable.</p>

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<p>College is FREAKING AMAZING. Seriously, how often do you get to pick up your bags, ship off to a far away place, and be surrounded by thousands of kids your age ready to have a great time. You have so much freetime that the workload isn’t bad at all. In fact, I sometimes do homework out of boredom. </p>

<p>You have almost unlimited freedom, parties are amazing, you make great friends, etc, etc. How can you say it’s overrated? I’m pretty sure its rated how it should be rated.</p>

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Many college kids don’t hang out in their room 24/7 but are out there attending class, going to the library, meeting up with friends to hang out, take part in rec activities, attend talks and events on campus, and go to parties with dozens (or more) kids their age. The room is a place to sleep…</p>

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<p>ar, from this and some of your other threads I think you are having a hard time transitioning from living at home to dormitory life. It’s not for everyone. But the real point of going away to college, aside from going to classes, is the magic that happens outside of class. The existential discussions that go on all night. Spontaneously going to a lecture on a topic you know nothing about. Doing things you’ve never done before, just because you can–whether or not you ever do them again. Meeting people who make you uncomfortable, and making them your friends. Breaking your old mold and constructing another.</p>

<p>When each of my sons went away to school, I told him to take advantage of his “bubble years”. Other than my expectation that they maintain good grades, and not become total drunken louts, I want my kids to try all kinds of things and meet all kinds of people. I want them to experiment with the personas they might become. I would feel that if my sons trudged a straight and narrow path to a pre-defined goal without any side journeys or adventures they would be abandoning the most important part of their educational opportunity.</p>

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<p>I was at 2 regular colleges for 2 years and just didn’t get it, didn’t like it, thought college was overrated, stupid…etc…</p>

<p>and i dropped to community, and in retrospect, I can TOTALLY say that if you compare the two, i deeply regret not appreciating what I had!!</p>

<p>They say you don’ tknow what you had til you lost it. SO TRUE.</p>