<p>I liked undergrad, but was still trying to figure out who I was. By the time I got to grad school, I had a greater sense of self and knew more of what I wanted, was more confident and found more like-minded friends. I got to focus on what was meaningful, without full adult responsibilities.</p>
<p>So I would say grad school.</p>
<p>High school was good. Undergrad not good. Grad school very good.</p>
<p>undergrad–not perfect all around, but loved the campus, fond memories of study abroad/travel, some fun events/parties, mostly good roommates. I’d definitely choose undergrad over grad school.</p>
<p>grad school–I got pregnant during the first month of a two year program. So I was sick for a couple months the first year. Then the next year, I had a baby. A colicky baby. And our apartment building burned down and we had to move in with my parents for a while. Truly, I remember NOTHING. Finished the work and left. Got the diploma in the mail. Felt like drudgery. There were a couple favorite courses and profs. Got a job in an unrelated field. (Baby quickly grew out of his colicky phase. It was fun to take him around campus–everyone loved to see him because there were so few babies around. He is now 25–and my best “souvenir” of those days.)</p>
<p>I don’t keep in touch with anyone from either college. Grad school was a very diverse group–married/single/old/young, full/part-time. They were nice people, we all got along, but not much in common and we were only there for two years/some overlapping only one year or semester.</p>
<p>UG for me, though I was also super happy in law school. (It can be done!) If I had not been able to transfer, and had spent four years at my original UG, then grad school would win out – I was much happier in law school than I was at the bad-fit first school.</p>
<p>They were such different experiences, but I’d have to say I looked back more fondly at my undergraduate program, mostly because of the social experiences and opportunities for exploration. In grad school, my officemates were mostly married, some had kids, oddly, the single folks were generally the older students (post-divorce, I guess). Anyway, there wasn’t the same social scene. The excitement of wanting to be this, that, or the other thing was gone. </p>
<p>I liked the intellectualism of grad school, but there was A LOT more pretentiousness, too. I had friends in grad school, but didn’t form the deep connections I formed in undergrad. However, thanks to a grad school connection, I did get a job.</p>
<p>Grad school by far. I got some fantastic grants that funded travel and study at the Fondazioni Giorgio Cini in Venice . And I was studying with the absolute top scholar in my area of interest.It was a magical time. sigh…</p>
<p>Undergrad. Medical school was far more intense than even the Honors program and a demanding major. Friends for life in both undergrad major and medical school. Liked and disliked aspects of both but the freedom of time was better as an undergrad. As an undergrad I was also able to take many totally nonmajor related electives, unlike in medical school.</p>
<p>I was not an undergrad as a prelude to medical school so the pressure wasn’t on getting into medical school. By senior year I was not as interested in being a chemist and had a food service job so not all was fun, likewise in medical school I did not like all specialties so academically both had ups and downs. Socially had a circle of like minded friends in both- all intense academically. But we were so busy in medical school compared to undergrad there wasn’t time to do as much.</p>
<p>Grad school would have been different. A combination of doing what I liked academically plus time for other stuff. A college friend PhD and I both expressed wondering if we should have followed the other’s path after decades away from school and in our professions. Interesting how choices in our early twenties shape our life’s path.</p>
<p>Undergrad, without a doubt. At an all-women’s college, of all things! 
Made great friendships, many of which have carried forward to this day, got a terrific education and went to school in the best college town in the country.</p>
<p>Law school-3 years of blech, with the sole exception of meeting DH there. :)</p>
<p>I actually enjoyed both–they were very different but I found both very interesting and had interesting experiences for both UG and law school. My dad kept waiting to receive notice that I had flunked out of law school because I kept telling him about fun outings we went on (I was dating a grad student in ecology, so we did a LOT of outdoor activities, including hiking to the bottom of Havasu Canyon, Death Valley, Palm Springs). Both allowed me to grow and learn a lot about myself and others.</p>
<p>Interesting thread … I wonder how many of the loved grad school folks were PhD programs?</p>
<p>^^^^Interesting question. I was in a PhD program, and I found it to be extremely stressful. I did not enjoy grad school nearly as much as undergrad. Part of it was pressure to get a job in a really tight field. There was enormous anxiety all around. It was certainly not learning for learning’s sake, the way I experienced undergrad to be.</p>
<p>While I had a better than expected time in law school, my undergraduate experience was superior.</p>
<p>For me, undergrad was too full of challenges, personally and academically, to be the experience that I look upon more “fondly”. I think it had an aspect of becoming forged steel, which certainly has served me well in life, but at the time was quite trying. I don’t think my maturity level ever quite jelled with the social or academic experience. I felt stressed in a bad way most of the time.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my JD/MBA experience was more fun overall, believe it or not. Both programs were small, and the groups of people were friendly, and the work was enjoyable. (In undergrad I almost always had the feeling of being alone in a crowd, which was not a good feeling.) In grad school I felt that I had many friends, fun activities, and liked the collegial feeling, which was not too present in undergrad. I got to do research in areas that I found interesting and have internships/clerkships that I enjoyed. Even in times of stress, I did not feel so overwhelmed as I did in undergrad, but I think in large part that was because I already had that forged steel feeling that I got in undergrad.</p>
<p>I enjoyed UG a lot, but grad school was probably my favorite, except for the research part (I had to mix a LOT of polymer concrete and test it many different ways). I had a nice stipend, so I had no money worries. I loved being independent. I met my future DH and was engaged within three months, too!</p>
<p>Tough to say; I loved both, and they were very different experiences.</p>
<p>Undergraduate: lots of social excitement, lots of intellectual excitement, met new people and new ideas all the time, pretty much loved every minute of it but at the end was very dissatisfied with my own maturity level, knew I needed to grow up. Also, there was some serious drama in my college life – a roommate who became schizophrenic, another who became severely depressed (not unrelated), a friend’s descent into alcoholism, my best friend running off to Alaska and then having his parents’ marriage blow up sensationally . . . . It was wearing sometimes.</p>
<p>Law school: often very difficult, especially at first, but I learned to focus myself and to think ahead, and everything pretty much broke my way so that I had amazing experiences. In contrast to college, where I couldn’t sustain a romantic relationship more than a month or so, I was more or less in a committed relationship all through law school (she and I had been friends in college, but didn’t get romantically involved until the summer after I graduated). So I learned by trial and error how to do that – also not always easy, but ultimately very rewarding. </p>
<p>I have friends with whom I still feel close from both college and law school. I probably talk to my law school friends slightly more often, but feel closer to my college friends. It matters that my best friend in college had been a close/best friend since 5th grade; we had a lot of history together. In law school, there was only one person I knew enough to say “Hi” to before I got there (one of the reasons, in fact, I chose that school).</p>
<p>3togo: “Interesting thread … I wonder how many of the loved grad school folks were PhD programs?”</p>
<p>I am one of the loved grad school folks, but mine was law school, not a PhD program.</p>
<p>Grad school far and away. Undergrad was male only although the women’s college of the university was just across town. I was pretty immature too. In grad school I made lots of friends who are are still friends; went to school in warmer weather; and met the woman I married.</p>
<p>Hands down, undergraduate school was better. I was able to explore all sorts of intellectual interests, living on my own for the first time, greek life (nynah, nynah, greek haters ;)) and friendships lasting a lifetime.</p>
<p>Graduate school was one long slog, working full-time and then part-time while jumping through the hoops to get the degree. My classmates were actually less interesting, too.</p>
<p>Definitely undergraduate! I wish I had stayed all four years instead of graduating a year early.</p>
<p>I got my first master’s degree at night while working full-time, and I was constantly dead tired. The Navy did away with my specialty area right after I graduated, so I had no chance to use the degree.</p>
<p>The Navy sent me to SDSU full-time for my second master’s degree. That was nice–classes were at night, so all my days were free. Tough job, but someone had to do it! :)</p>