Myths (for me at least)
These years were some of the best times of my life. I wish I could afford to be a full time student again.
Not necessarily true in all cases. The cafeteria food in my dorm sucks big donkey balls, so I think I’ve actually lost a few pounds my first semester of college.
Not to worry, though, I gained it all back during Thanksgiving break!
I fell for that one too.
I’m currently trying to debunk a myth about my alma mater. “Where did you go to school?” they ask me. “ECU” I reply. Questioner gets a knowing look and says conpiratorially, “Party school!”
Um. No. At least not after the first semester when all of the partiers get on academic probation.
Every high school student I know believes that in college, you don’t have to show up for any classes- just take the final exam, pass it, and get the credit.
How they expect to do well on that exam when they haven’t been to class, I’m not sure.
I don’t care what they tell you in high school. Your future happiness and financial security are not totally dependant upon choosing a career path and a major and getting on the fast track to it prior to your sophmore year in high school.
I always believed I’d make a bunch of friends in college that I’d keep in touch with for the rest of my life, party all the time meet my future husband, graduate in 4 years (ha!) get a great job…ect. ect.
I was ready to leave school after about a month because I was lonely, hadn’t been to one party, had the roomate from hell and it was just overall, not how I imagined it. Parents made me stick it out, i’m glad because it got a lot better after awhile.
Anyways, I ended up getting a cool job (I don’t even graduate until May (7 yrs later) I ended up taking some time off due to a car accident, have a great b/f (who I didn’t meet in college) have some good friends (most of which I didn’t meet in college) and still don’t go to many parties.
In the end, I believe nothing really ends up how you expect it to, and that your happiness and satisfaction hinges heavily on your ability to adapt and be flexible.
It’s possible to graduate in 4 years. The problem is, at least in my school, you have to take 16-17 units/semester and 4 units during January interterm in order to make it happen, and most students are either too stupid to realize this, or too lazy to do it.
myth: you have to go to all the lectures to pass the course.
reality: you go to the interesting ones and read up the others.
myth:to make friends, join a society!
reality: to make friends, sit in the bar and buy drinks for complete strangers.
myth: students are poor and survive on baked beans
reality: students are VERY poor and survive on supernoodles.
myth: nobody comes in monday because of the hangovers
reality: nobody comes in TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY or FRIDAY because of the hangovers. student club nights start midweek.
myth: Students drink snakebite and black
reality: students drink the most amount of alcohol for the least amount of money. cider with an absinthe shooter is the current drink of choice :eep:
Or they don’t want to spend the entire 4 years in the library, or they go to a school where athletes, students with disabilities (no problem with that) and freshman get top priority, so your chances of getting the classes you need to graduate are at about 15% your sophmore and junior years and the school is so over enrolled, crashing classes doesn’t always work out. Or maybe there’s some loophole that I was to stupid or lazy to find.
At my school it is possible to graduate in 4 years (or earlier!)…You just have to take around 15 credits per semester, and you’re set. Since the state also requires summer credit (9), you can take some 12 credit semesters, take a 9 credit summer semester (or spread it among different years), and still graduate in 4 years.
The problem in some colleges is that some of the core classes required for graduation do not have much space available, and the administration never foresees this and creates more sections.
It is possible to practically never go to class and pass it, but you’ll have to study on your own. This is not much of a problem if the class is mostly reading and comprehension (biology courses, for example) in which the material comes from books. For other courses (like math and chemistry), it is necessary to go in order to understand the material, unless you’ve had it before.
I am graduating in four years.
The ONLY reason this is happening is because I managed to skip a year of college when transferring, and I brought in APs from high school.
I can’t even imagine. Even on 18cr semesters, you’d still end up taking classes in the summer to get out in 4.
Myths I’ve encountered:
-Dorm life is not as bad as everyone says it is. No wait, this is true. It’s WORSE than everyone says it is.
-You’ll automatically make tons of friends your freshman year.
-The course you need to take because it’s a requirement for your major won’t be horribly dull or otherwise awful. Having played this game too many times, I’m starting to think that required classes are secretly meant to expose the students to every downside of that particular major, all at once, to weed out the people who aren’t serious about it.
-If you’re stuck in the closet, you’ll find support and resources at school (true in some places; I had to transfer for this)
Yech, I worked our college bar and people started drinking this in my last year. Prior to that our bar had self-respect, even ten different kinds of fine malt whiskey, but fucking snakebite and black, I mean really. What is the world coming to?
The main myth I encountered: Student politics matters.
Heh. Yeah guys, let’s pass a motion condemning the actions of the Columbian government against the FARC rebels! And condemn the government’s policies on single mothers! Cos that’ll make a difference. And let’s use our motherfucking scarce Student Union funds to pay for flights so our motherfucking eco-warriors can go to motherfucking Switzerland to join in the motherfucking anti-globalisation protest! YEAH!
Sorry, I’m still bitter about that last one. Fuck. What a waste.
What’s with all this “you can’t graduate in four years” stuff? I did. I took 15/16 credit hours for seven semesters and one 18 credit hour semester. If you’re willing to do the work and take more than the minimum hours needed to be counted as full-time, I don’t see why it wouldn’t take four years.
Well, I said in my school, at least.
My school is obviously different than yours, because athletes don’t get priority and neither do Freshman. My school is not over-crowded either. I go to a small private school, so the chances of graduating in 4 years is good, if you aren’t stupid or lazy.
Myth I kept hearing in high school: The profesors won’t care about you because you’ll just be another face in the crowd.
I’m sure others have had different experiences, but I found that once you got past the introductory and survey (i.e. weeding out) courses, the classes were generally in groups of 10-25 people, so the professors recognized everyone. They were also usually pretty good about meeting and talking with students. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so shy and had taken better advantage of this.
Strictly my personal opinion and experience, but I disagree with most of the myths in the OP:
I loved dorm life
I made lots of friends
The classes were great (there was pressure, though)
Didn’t encounter any bullying
Didn’t go to many parties, but always had a pretty good time (and the first two years were pre-internet)
While not all the women wanted to have sex with me, I was more than happy with the two who did.
And I agree with Dead Badger: if you’re going to fight to change something, change something local that will actually affect you and those around you. The repressive dictatorship of West Fredonia really couldn’t give a shit if you marched around the Quad all week.
Yeah, I think we do disagree. I’d say one of the perks of adulthood is that you get choices (within reason – obviously, you can’t choose to sit around eating bonbons and watching soap operas all day, unless of course you can find somebody willing to subsidize these activities). There is no earthly reason to continue doing something that makes you miserable if you have the option of doing something else.
Besides, university is supposed to be enjoyable – the whole purpose of a liberal arts education is to teach you how to use your leisure time intelligently and pleasurably, despite the fact that many students persist in regarding it as a trade school. (In fact, it’s a damned poor trade school; people who don’t enjoy academic pursuits and are only in it for the career prospects are in for a rude shock upon graduation, as several posters have already testified.)
That choosing to major in a particular field both guarantees that you will get a job in that field, and irrevocably locks you into a lifelong career in that field. (E.g., majoring in computer science means you will be a programmer until retirement, the only way to become a doctor is to take all the pre-med courses as an undergraduate, etc.)
I managed to graduate in 4 years and earn a semester’s worth of graduate work, but it wasn’t easy. I overloaded on hours, went to summer classes, whatever it took.
As for those enduring myths, I did not make lifelong friends. I am not a world famous archeologist nor was there a job awaiting me upon graduation. I do not make big bucks, or even medium sized bucks, and I will be paying off student loans into the afterlife. I wouldn’t trade those 4 years for anything!
As far as the getting laid goes, here’s a suggestion: take a dance class. Unfortunately, it took me until this year (junior) to realize it was this easy, but the dance class I’m in has provided me with more than enough chances at female companionship. If you can dance even a little bit, they will swarm you.
“In high school, you were a big fish in a small pond. At college, you will be a medium-sized fish in a big pond. You will not be the smartest person there. You may not even be one of the smartest people there.”
Well, that really depends. If you’re smart enough, and depending upon the size and other qualities of the school, this will not necessarily happen.