So, how's the life in college?

[zoxxy]

Or University.
Thing is, I'm graduating next year, and I've been thinking my ars e to the bone about where to apply, or if I even should apply.
So I'm making this thread to hopefully get some good stories about the life at college/university.

Ii'm sure it's stressful etc., but you tell me! Also, to everyone that graduated, was it worth it all?

Peace

 

[tait]

You should definitely apply. Even if it's not for you, at least you can say you tried it.
I think living on your own is the hardest part of college/university. Not because you feel lonely or whatever, but because you don't have someone leaning over your shoulder telling you what you have to do and making sure it gets done. Laziness can get you, and it will so get ready to get your **** straight. Aside from that, it's generally a fun experience. Make sure to be extremely social in the first few weeks; the amount of friends you make in the first few weeks will determine what your social life will be like later on. Stress isn't a big issue, sure sometimes it can be overwhelming but there will be periods in which you will have absolutely nothing to do.
I don't have any good stories, just advice.

 

[Philly]

tait put it right. You HAVE to be disciplined in college. It's all too easy to start your homework at 11 then call it a night at 2 once half of your stuff is done.

As for being social, yeah. It's definitely something you should try hard to do. It's not the end of the world if you're not in the first weeks but don't expect to have many great friends for a while if you sit in the corner for the first few weeks. It's not a very good system for strong introverts.

Spoken through experience.

 

[Sage]

You shouldn’t base your decision on applying by how the “life” is – you should base it on what you need. For example, I’m doing biotech engineering, which you pretty much have to get a degree in to get a job. Conversely, if I had decided to stick with web development, I probably wouldn’t have bothered going to college.

 

[zoxxy]

Edit: Alright, nevermind

 

[Philly]

College is grade "13" through "16" ish. Four years after you graduate high school. University covers the same time, but the school is about 10 times as big and offers grad programs.

 

[Omnis]

Hey, for me, full-time (4 classes) was a pain in the ass. I dropped to 3 classes and college is cake so far.

 

[Giancarlo]

You should definitely go to college, even if you don't know what you want to do yet. You can apply as Undecided while you get your undergrad stuff out of the way. If you don't already have a job, you should definitely go full-time so you can graduate on time.

The other decision is whether you want to/your family can afford for you to stay in a dorm. Also look into TONS of scholarships and grants, don't skimp out or become lazy. I was lucky enough to get 2 scholarships, and am going to a fairly respectable state school (with a really great business school; i'm majoring in Marketing) in Miami for free. In fact, i get a little bit of money on the side because school is cheaper than what the scholarships offer.

Good luck.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I would say to give it a try unless you know you won't need college to get the career you want.

 

[Kylehnat]

There's no harm in applying, so definitely do that. What you need to do is think about what interests you, though not necessarily in terms of a career. Don't go in saying that you want to be a lawyer, doctor, writer, artist, etc... Rather, go in saying that you want to learn more about law, medicine, journalism, or photography. In exploring your interests, you might get inspired to learn about something else, or you might come across a career you never thought of.

I went into college with a pretty rigid idea of what I wanted to major in (which is how most engineers are). I've not regretted it for a second, and I'm doing quite well in the real-world rat-race. However, thinking back, I wish I would have explored a little more into my other interests. I can think of a few other fields that would have made me just as happy (maybe even more so), even for less money. It's always worth it to explore; you won't have that opportunity later on.

 

[YSSMAN]

I'm at school full-time (15 credits, four or five classes) and work nearly full-time (30-40 hours), so life is a bit busy. But that being said, I don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't in school, and even though its expensive, choosing Aquinas over Western Michigan or Michigan State was a good idea. I've made a few good friends on campus, but given that I don't live there (I'm still at home, about 10 miles away), my social life at school is rather small.

...But thats okay...

I managed to pull off a 3.4 GPA last semester, the highest I've done in the nearly three years I've completed, and this semester is looking to be much the same. We'll see. I don't find college "hard," as a matter of fact, I rarely study. Its a matter of going in, forming an opinion, and backing it up.

 

[Sage]

I don't find college "hard," as a matter of fact, I rarely study. Its a matter of going in, forming an opinion, and backing it up.

I can clearly tell you’re not a science/engineering major just based on those two sentences.

 

[YSSMAN]

Political Science and History FTW. Once you get your sophomore classes out of the way, finishing up most of the 200-level courses, its pretty much a matter of repeating what you already know and applying it to different situations. Have a basic understanding of the functions of government, be able to identify liberal (economic) bias, and match that with a historical knowledge of the US and you're pretty much in cruise control...

 

[Picc84]

I feel like a kid with a big brain, stuck in a town where no one know's what math is...

Like, I want to go to MIT. For computer sciences and engineering (i believe...) but the sad part is, the school i'm currently attending, Does not offor half the courses I need, and I'm in all senior Computer and Math classes... Which sucks... cause their REALLY HARD ZOMGZ! butfor them to be senior, and i'm a freshman, it really sucks, and my chances of getting into MIT with this school on my damn resume, looks ****ty!

 

[Danoff]

College is very different for different people. For some people, it's one big party from one end to the other. For others it's intensely hard work, stressful, and emotionally draining. It mostly depends on your major.

Generally speaking, the better the career you want, the harder you'll have to work in college. So if you find yourself partying your way through, there's a decent chance you'll pay for it later. For me, college was an opportunity to test what my brain was capable of and really push myself to the limit of my energy and ability. Depressing as hell too when I found out how far short I fell of some of the others around me.

My advice, find your interest and pursue it. Like math? Study math. Like writing? Take courses on it. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing intellectually, focus on that. It'll help ensure that you're good at what you do, and don't get burned out doing it if you're actually fascinated by the subject.

Oh, and definitely do go to college. Even if you don't think you'll need it it's an excellent time to learn.

I feel like a kid with a big brain, stuck in a town where no one know's what math is...

Like, I want to go to MIT. For computer sciences and engineering (i believe...) but the sad part is, the school i'm currently attending, Does not offor half the courses I need, and I'm in all senior Computer and Math classes... Which sucks... cause their REALLY HARD ZOMGZ! butfor them to be senior, and i'm a freshman, it really sucks, and my chances of getting into MIT with this school on my damn resume, looks ****ty!

SAT

Concentrate on your SAT.

 

[Kylehnat]

You don't have to go to MIT to get an excellent education. There are plenty of other technical schools and (gasp) public schools which can get you to where you want to go in life. Anyone who disses public school will get the back of my hand to the face .

 

[Duke]

You shouldn’t base your decision on applying by how the “life” is – you should base it on what you need. For example, I’m doing biotech engineering, which you pretty much have to get a degree in to get a job. Conversely, if I had decided to stick with web development, I probably wouldn’t have bothered going to college.

While I agree to some extent with this sentiment, I feel I agree even more strongly with a comments left at that site:

One thing an undergrad degree does is prove that the individual had the dedication, discipline, and wherewithal to plan, fund, and complete a long term endeavor...

In addition to that, what if you end up not liking the career that you think requires no degree? Then you're hosed - potential employers in most other 'white-collar' fields are going to be looking for a college degree. A completed 4-year degree in any field is worth more to more employers than an unfinished degree in their specific field.

Outside of the actual course content you learn, college teaches you dozens of skills that are 100% required to be successful in life and business:

• How to learn (not just the knowledge learned itself)
• How to research and compile data
• How to think critically
• How to budget time, effort, and money
• How to live away from home

Additionally, college/university is absolutely the best way to get exposed to a huge variety of different careers and fields of study. For that reason alone, I would definitely go to college. If you're not sure what you'd like to do yet - many people are not - then going to a good, diverse university can offer you a buffet of choices to sample. Most places do not make you declare a major field of study until the end of your second year, and they will also let you get minors in other subjects.

 

[1X83Z]

You shouldn’t base your decision on applying by how the “life” is – you should base it on what you need.

Minus one. Campus life is the most important part.

You don't have to go to MIT to get an excellent education. There are plenty of other technical schools and (gasp) public schools which can get you to where you want to go in life. Anyone who disses public school will get the back of my hand to the face .

As someone who's now paying $41,000 annually to attend college, I completely and totally agree. I love it here and I believe it's a great place to be, but I don't think it's $30,000 better than the local state schools I could've attended. See above remark though - had I gone to a local state school it would've been a repeat of high school. The academics coupled with the campus life in this place is $30,000 better.

 

[Omnis]

Yeah, Doug. So far, community college is a total repeat of high school (albeit minus the BS and less like day-care). I can't wait to get my AA and transfer.

 

[ceiling_fan]

The posts in this thread are useful too.

 

[Kylehnat]

The academics coupled with the campus life in this place is $30,000 better.

You lost me there.

 

[Joey D]

College is a bit different for me since I live at home, which is only about 3 or 4 miles at most from the campus. We have campus life but it's rather lackluster since a huge majority of people live at home or off campus and commute to classes daily (this makes parking a complete bitch).

I basically chose Oakland because it wasn't going to cost me a million bucks like the other schools I was accepted into would have. My family is at that point where we are wealthy enough not to get federal aid but not wealthy enough to not even think about it and just cut a check for $10,000 every year. With that said I do like Oakland and I think I've ended up doing something that I've always wanted to do. There are better schools out there for archaeology but when I started college I was thinking journalism but really had no idea.

If you are unsure about college I recommend taking a couple courses at a local community college first to see if it is what you want to do, this way you get a feel for what higher learning is like but you don't go broke doing it. And in case you have not picked up on it yet, college is expensive no matter what but getting money from outside sources really helps.

 

[Burnout]

I was in college for 2.75 semesters and while my grades were fine I absolutely hated college and everything about it. Granted it was a community university and I was still living at home which somewhat stifled the 'campus life' mentality many have spoken of. I was going for Graphic Design to compliment my natural interest in web design. I later found however that every class was a complete joke and utter waste of my time. I was routinely the highest scoring student in the graphics classes and did as good as I wanted to in my general classes.

The reason I dropped college was really due to a number of reasons combined with my particular situation. You see, my brother and I opened an IT business and later expanded to add a graphics studio. We've been around for just shy of three years now and things are getting better by the day. I was fairly interested in web design and development before attending college and the business before starting either endeavor. The difference was that college was a huge joke and utter waste of my time.

What finally did it for me? I was sitting in class one day and realized, "Wow, I'm paying money learning less than I could be teaching myself while making money."

But hold the phone..
My brothers are both electronic engineers (well, both were until one of them started the business with me and later dropped out of his program). The other, my oldest brother, is currently one of the highest graded students working on his Doctrines specializing in nanotechnology. Would he be able to do that without a degree? Yeah, right. He loves college, he loves the life style and has met his more-than-likely future wife from there.

The moral of the story is to at least give it a try. I think you'll figure it out once you get there.

 

[Philly]

If you are unsure about what to do, I would recommend a liberal arts college. There will be lots of chicks there, it will be small enough that you actually see people you know, but it will be expensive. And Hope is one of the very few liberal arts colleges to offer an engineering program, if that's what you want. They have 3-2 programs where you spend 3 years at a college and go to a university for 2 but I would advise against that.

 

[Touring Mars]

There's definitely a balance to be struck between 'enjoying' your college life and getting something worthwhile out of a college education. As someone who lived in some 6 different flatshares during my academic career, I can say that I've sampled both sides of that balance...

In my first year, I was put in a random flat with three other guys. I happened to know one of them already (by chance) and the other two were hard-working, down-to-Earth guys and all-in-all, first year was a breeze... nice atmosphere, semi-sociable flatmates, and a great environment to get my studies off to a good start...

...but rather than stay with them for the rest of college, I decided it would be a good move to get a flat with some mates instead, mates who I went out drinking (etc.) with, and it wasn't long before things started to go a bit awry. My flatmates were basically the biggest bunch of stoners you could ever meet, and I was lucky to escape 2nd year with just one resit... Don't get me wrong, we had some great nights and did some pretty silly things, but it wasn't for me, and it almost cost me my degree (and plenty more besides, but that's another story).

I learned my lesson quick and got out of there for the rest of Uni... my 3rd year was a real turn-around, and I moved in with some people who were mates (first and foremost), but also took their work seriously enough to know where to draw the line. I was lucky to escape from the 24/7 party environment before I did myself some irreparable academic harm, and learned a valuable lesson about what sort of people I wanted/needed to live with in order to get the most out of being at college. Of the guys I lived with during my degree, we all made it through, except for the three guys I lived with in my 2nd year, who all failed (for the most part)...

You will make mistakes, you will have some hard decisions and some low times - but arguably, these few years made me the person I am today. Although my 2nd year at Uni was a very tough year for many reasons, it now feels more like a 'rite of passage' than nearly anything else... I'm not proud of alot of what happened in 1992, but I am proud of the fact that I put it behind me and can even look back and laugh at it now. I'm not sure I'd choose to 'do it all again', but even this terrible year does little to take away from the benefit of the other 6 years I spent in Uni. So if you get the chance to go to college, take it. Just don't expect to be the exact same person when you pop out the other side.