Did you waste college?

In My Humble Opinion
41

No. I loved college and I knew it was only going to last four years (or so I thought; eventually I discovered that there was this thing called “grad school,” which turned out to be even more awesome). I wanted to take every last class I could and read ALL THE BOOKS, and go to all the movies at the art-house theater just off campus, and spend as much time as possible at our student-run coffeehouse where I was a manager. It was great.

I know now that I wasted some opportunities, and some friendships, by being socially phobic and drinking way too much, but I suppose that was an essential part of learning not to do these things in adult life, so I can’t say it was altogether a waste.

42

I don’t think so. I got a degree in physics, which was quite tough. Then I went on to get a Ph.D. in physics, which was even more tough, and which eventually got me my career (in software engineering – it’s a long story).

On the other hand, it put me way behind on my social skills. I went to a very technical school, where there weren’t many girls, so even the guys with good social skills had a hard time finding dates. Someone like me, with no social skills, had no chance at all. It took me many years to catch up.

43

Social skills? I’ve heard of those. I think they’re something liberal arts majors have.

44

Not all of us.

I would not say I wasted it. I also went to a Ivy league school. I milked it for everything it was worth. I took 6-7 classes per semester and double majored, despite a 2 year core. I learned half a dozen languages and worked with some truly brilliant people. This is more valuable to me than the social aspects, but to each his own.

45

It’s called “being 18 to 21 years old”. Some people are mature enough at that age to take full advantage of the opportunities one can have for a well-rounded education…as a number of posts here have already noted (and as I’m about to add), a lot of people aren’t.

I note that you were working on your own degree while in the Army; there’s a level of discipline and dedication which military service can instill in people, which undoubtedly helped you.

As far as my story: I’m another “yes and no”.

I went to a Big Ten school, and did reasonably well in my classes (3.5 GPA as an undergrad, 3.4 GPA for my Master’s program). I took some elective credits which I enjoyed, and which broadened my thinking (several survey-level science classes, several education classes, plus ballroom dance and fencing).

I had a healthy social life, and I made friends who, to this day, 25 years later, are still among my best friends.

But…I skipped class a lot (particularly early-morning classes), and did the bare minimum in a lot of my classes. In a lot of classes, I realized that I could get a B with just a modicum of effort, and I decided that that was good enough. I rarely visited my professors (a number of whom were recognized as being leaders in their fields) or TAs for office hours, and did little to learn more from them.

I very likely spent too much time playing D&D, and not enough time studying. I had serious girlfriends for 3+ of my 4 years as an undergrad, and while I loved both of them, and would never ever regret those relationships, they did contribute to a lack of focus (in fact, serious girlfriend #2 broke things off with me, after we had been together for a year and a half, because she realized that, as a pre-med student, she needed to focus more). I had a work-study job, which made college much more affordable for my family and me, but also took up about 15-20 hours a week…time which also took away from study.

46

You and I have radically definitions of waste. Aren’t you a tenured Professor?

I absolutely wasted college. Being the first in my family to go on to post secondary education I didn’t have a clue what mattered or what I should do. I wasn’t good at reaching out for guidance and I was completely naive (good grades and ability are worth as much as the name of the institution on the diploma, right? :smack:).

Accepted to MIT, but opted to go to the state University on a 3/4 academic scholarship for fiscal and stupidity reasons. Found myself bored out of my mind, muddled through 5 semesters and left school in the 6th due to a family crisis (that was my excuse at least). Put in a couple semesters at the local JuCo to complete a couple AA’s and an AAS and went to work. Ended up pretty much where I think I would have anyway. Supervising 10 engineers/designers in small company making custom automation and material handling equipment.

Had I finished my undergrad I would probably have been employed at a larger company making more money, but probably less content. I love solving problems and being in a small company gives me the flexibility helpf find solutions for problems in lots of different areas of the business.

47

No.

I also went to an ivy, but no scholarship. My parents paid for my education, and it was the best gift they ever gave me. I would have been ashamed to waste one penny of their hard earned money.

48

Since nobody has ever given a shit about GPA or even the nature of my degree, but still hired me into good-paying jobs because of it, hell no it wasn’t wasted.

49

I think the OP draws a distinction between wasting a degree and wasting the opportunity for eduction.

50

Well then, the real world gave me ten times the education that college did. So maybe I didn’t waste it.

51

I went to a top-tier university, and although I didn’t waste it, I certainly didn’t get as much out of it as I could have if I had applied a little more effort.

52

College is explicitly an opportunity to study and earn a degree, but there is also an opportunity for social/personal growth that’s not likely to be repeated later in life; any student who pursues one opportunity to the complete exclusion of the other is missing out on something important.

I pursued a mechanical engineering degree, all the way through to a Ph.D. In undergrad, I was in the marching band for five seasons, which was a great opportunity to meet and hang out with non-engineers. I managed to get a 3.5 GPA; that would have been higher, had I not simply been slacking for my first couple of years.

I went straight from undergrad into grad school. In grad school you’re supposed to work obsessively on your research, right? Meh. Three times a week a friend and I cut out early and hit the gym to lift weights; when I started grad school I was a skinny puppy, but by the end I was quite muscular. I enjoyed long lunches, a sailing club, lots of bike riding, building/flying a couple of RC sailplanes, endless evening cookouts and movie-going with friends, and lots of time browsing really, really strange, interesting, and mind-expanding stuff on Usenet, which I discovered after a couple of years. At the end I finally did buckle down and put in long hours to make my research equipment work properly, and then write a decent dissertation. I don’t think I was working any harder at that time than any of my colleagues who were going through the same struggle.

No regrets. I learned lots of stuff in my field of study, and tons of other stuff about myself, other people, and the world, and I had a great time along the way.

53

No.

I got an electrical engineering degree from one of the best engineering schools in Ohio. The coursework was *incredibly *difficult; they really put you through the meat grinder. My job is much easier than schoolwork. And most of the time I am simply applying the fundamentals I learned when getting by BSEE.

54

I didn’t waste college, but it set me up to waste the first four years of my career.

I chose a school with a really good liberal arts program (which interested me greatly, even though I was going for a science degree), I met friends, studied abroad, met my husband, graduated with honors and generally became a much better person for it.

What I didn’t know at the time was that not all science programs are created equal. My school’s program sucked. When I graduated I went to work for the same company I’d worked summers for, and ended up bouncing around jobs that were only semi-related to the field I wanted to be in for a few years. I’m now finally on the bottom rung of the ladder I want to climb, and man is it a long ways up.

By comparison, my brother went to a very rigorous science program and has the job he wants, just six months after graduation. He’s making quite a bit more than I am. (No, no sibling rivalry there at all. Why do you ask? :p) The most senior guy in my department at work didn’t go to college at all. He graduated high school with enough knowledge that college bored him and he dropped out after one semester to dive into a career. He’s now my age (26) and probably knows more than I ever will. He’s also making a six-digit salary.

So yeah, I’m a bit behind the game. I also wish I’d gone to a more rigorous college program just to really learn how to work - I graduated with honors, easily. So did half my class. Now that I’m in the work force, I’m finding that I stall out fast without really structured goals. My life would look very different right now if I’d chosen a different college. But I got the most wonderful husband I can imagine out of it, so I can’t really complain.

55

No. I made it a point to take advantage of college. I didn’t go to a great school, but I viewed college as a huge educational and developmental opportunity. Ny parents paid my way ($15k total), and I was very grateful and didn’t want to waste their money.

I majored in subjects I loved (first journalism, then psychology). I don’t work in those fields, but I have maintained a strong interest in the latter subject. I took courses I thought were interesting, and several professors inspired me to work harder and learn as much as I could. I wound up working as an assistant for one of them, and got an acknowlegement in his textbook. My school also offered opportunities for intro-level course teaching and student editing and writing work, and those really helped round out my experience and were the points on my resume that got me hired at my current job, where I’m doing really well.

There were a few classes I didn’t give a shit about, but I didn’t flunk them. Never developed crazy habits or let my social life get out of control. Didn’t go to grad school, but I had no desire to. I have no regrets.

56

I can’t decide if I did or not. I worked hard, I had fun. I didn’t finish my degree (I was working on a B.S. in Chemistry). I dropped out and became a computer programmer.

In hindsight, since I didn’t get a degree, and don’t use what I’d learned, I wish I’d gone to art school instead.

57

I didn’t waste college as much as I wasted an opportunity.

My big passion and talent in HS (to this day, actually) was music (percussion). I got recruited by conservatories, had good people in my corner, blah blah blah, but I balked at pursuing it in college. I was more into religious experiences and bacchanalia than perfecting excerpts for orchestra auditions.

In my freshman year (after a year off) I took some geography courses which really clicked with me so I figured I’ll major in Geography. I transferred to U of Colorado and majored in Geography. For a semester. During that semester I heard about a percussion teacher at the music school that I just HAD to study with. But in order to study with him, I had to be a music major. I couldn’t just take lessons. So with the help of a grad student I put together an audition over the summer, passed, and joined the music program and studied with this guy. A performance degree was not to my liking (too much of a grind) and I tried music education for a semester but that was no-go. But I still liked studying with the guy so ultimately I pursued a BA which was music major-lite plus pretty much any other course I wanted to take and I had to write a thesis to graduate. So, some geography courses here, some history courses there, plus the music courses, the thesis, and I was done.

I took the courses I wanted (for the most part), partied a lot, had a good time with people who became lifelong friends, got my degree, a nice job (eventually). College definitely wasn’t wasted in that sense.

But I ended up basing my college career around music anyway despite my initial rejection of it. When I eventually ‘came back’ to music the interest in learning was there but my youthful burning drive was dissipated. At the time I definitely regretted not taking advantage of the opportunities offered to me on a silver platter when I was in high school. Looking back on it though I’m still not sure that I would have been happy. I was feeling pretty burned out after HS.

My other regret is not going through with the Geography/Cartography major. If I ever went back to school though that’s the one thing I’d like to go back for.

So, long story short, No, I didn’t waste college, but I do regret wasted opportunities and not applying myself as much as I could have.

58

Which Ivy?

59

I was not intellectually prepared for college, and it ate my lunch. By the time I was done, I was well-prepared for grad school, where I did well. I didn’t end up where I thought I would: I wanted to be an MD, but I was too lousy a student. But I did eventually get a career (actually a couple of them), and I’ve done alright, and these days I’m more than happy that I didn’t end up a doctor.

I regret that I wasn’t more mature, and didn’t fully avail myself of the opportunities laid out before me. But I doubt that my life would have turned out any better in any case.

So, thirty years ago I probably would have said yes, I wasted it. These days, I don’t see it that way.

60

Yeah, I pretty much wasted college. Like many other posters in this thread, I was too immature for it.

I went to a top-tier school. When I started my freshman year, I was both outrageously arrogant and insecure with myself, which is a horrible combination. To give you a sense of what I was like, I put a lot of effort into improving my vocabulary so that I could use big words in everyday speech to impress people. Despite my personality flaws I managed to make a few good friends that year, but I went through a horrible bout of depression sophomore year which somehow turned me into even more of a jerk, causing me to lose almost all my friends. My only friend junior and senior year was my girlfriend.

At the same time, I didn’t apply myself in my classes because I lacked the necessary work ethic. I only took three classes a quarter for most of my time there (most people took four or even five). I quit Latin and Math, two subjects I was once passionate about. Sometimes I would drop a class if I didn’t feel like writing a paper for it. I didn’t put much care into my work and I never got to know any professors. I smoked a lot of weed and had a lot of sex with my girlfriend (my reasoning was that no one who has sex on a daily basis can be a loser). I used to write for the newspaper in high school so I tried to get involved with my college’s paper, but I quit after writing one story.

I was still really immature and lacking in character when I graduated (my last quarter in school, I took one class). It took a few years of hard-knock real life for me to become a solid person. Now the idea of having four years to educate and improve myself and to meet hundreds of smart people from different places and backgrounds seems like it would be heaven.