I disagree; there is A LOT of bullying in the workplace; in some ways, I would say that it is even worse than bullying in grade or high schools. If you’re being bullied in the workplace, you are technically free to quit and never go back, but you will leave behind your livelihood and (in the US) your healthcare coverage.
I think bullying tapers off a lot in college for three reasons, two of which have already been mentioned:
1.) People are growing up;
2.) Bullies tend not to end up at college; and
3.) Enlightened self-interest. I mean, consider someone like me: a nerdy, bookish kid who’s good with computers. In high school, that’s not exactly a desirable skill-set. But in college, it really can be. If you’re struggling with the coursework, you damned well want to be on good terms with the kid at the top of the class - because he can help you, and that has consequences that a bad grade in high school just doesn’t have. If your computer eats your paper the night before it’s due, your parents aren’t there to help you fix it- you’d best hope you’re on good terms with the kid on your floor who knows computers. I don’t mean to say that people are this cold-blooded about it in the real world - but people like people who’ve got skills they respect, and in college “nerdiness” quickly becomes a very respectable skill.
The bullies I encountered during high school were not the sort of people who would ever want to even finish their high school education let alone go on to tertiary.
Sadly, I think bullying is becoming more prevalent in college as a higher proportion of the population goes on to higher ed; it’s becoming high-school-plus rather than a new environment. I’ve had at least one student (a really sweet, intelligent girl, but diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and with all the attendant social awkwardness) who spent most of her freshman year being horribly bullied by her suitemates, to the point where it was affecting her schoolwork.
alcohol
I felt like at college, social groups were more diluted. It’s not like in high school–if you thought a group of people were jerks, you could just hang out with someone new. And it felt less fishbowl-y b/c there were more people.
I would say there’s too much too lose and not enough to gain.
A bully over 18 can wind up in jail, even for a short while and a record when you are an adult isn’t easy to expunge. On the other hand what’s the advantage to it? There are so many college students, bullying isn’t going to win you over with the crowds that much.
Bullying still goes on but it takes different forms. I’ve seen girls treat guys like dirt. (and I’m sure the reverse is true), and it’s not physical it’s just a matter abuse, just like dating to go to fancy places or to get things. And I realize that’s not the same as bullying but it takes the place of bullying. It’s a form of abuse, and I do realize the guy contributes by letting himself be a doormat. (And I’ll re-state, I’m sure it happens to women, but I’ve seen it more with men).
Or you get passive agressive behaviors (Think “Everybody Loves Raymond”) which aren’t bullying but are replacements for it.
I think the bullying ends and gets replaced by some other “pecking order”
In my anecdotal experience bullying seemed more associated with an age group and less associated with high school versus college, although college definitely was more adult so it would have felt startlingly out of place if I had seen it (I didn’t see it at all). Random acts of dickishness seemed to peak around Grade 8 through 10, but by Grade 12 everyone seemed focused on the scary life that was to come and people got along much better. I was a socially awkward kid and was on the receiving end of bullying on many occasions, but I don’t recall any incidents past Grade 11, and seemed to get along much better with all my classmates, even ones who previously has given me grief. This high school and college experience was all in South Africa, so maybe the culture is different. On the other hand, news reports of the past indicate that hazing is alive and well in some places, so it may just be that I was out of the loop. I didn’t experience or witness any hazing or bullying behavior in college, and everyone was either knuckling down to work or slacking off in a nice, polite sort of manner.
There isn’t a small enough community at most colleges for bullying to be a successful strategy. There’s just no reward in it when people can drop classes or move housing with relative ease, and who have huge numbers of people with whom they can freely associate. In high school, you have a largely captive audience with very little capacity to change their routines, classes, locker assignments, transportation, and so on. The more freedom the students have, the less bullying tends to matter.
Growing up is part of it, but if colleges were like high schools, we probably would see more bullying there. Giving people more choices means that nobody is forced to be subjected to a bully.
I would say that the bullying in college is more subtle and sophisticated. The tool of choice in college is ostracization.
In addition to the other reasons offered, I think bullying in college is riskier in another way - retaliation could come from a lot more sources and directions. Threats within the confines of a high school can be very limited and any threat of retaliation can be easily avoided. In college, you just don’t know…it’s too large and the interconnectedness is so much more complex and even the most popular bully will be exposed a lot more times. Plenty of opportunity for the victim to do serious harm. It’s also rather hard to judge the clout any potential victim holds. University is so much more open that the victim has a lot more resources in play.
I recall as a graduate student I was required to attend a harassment (outside of highschool people call it harassment, but at its core it is still bullying) seminar. We were told examples of harassment that happened on campus. The bullying isn’t the classical type stuff. There was a kid who was living in the student center because the kids in his dorm made him feel uncomfortable. I don’t remember the other examples, but I recall something about not commenting on what other people’s food smells like. 
So it happens. Probably more than people are aware.
Then again, I wasn’t aware of any bullying in my high school either (though I wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened). And I’m exactly the type of person who should have been a prime target for bullying.
In college, ‘bullying’ is called ‘hazing.’ Otherwise, not much difference. (Back in more primitive times, of course.)
There did use to be a lot more ritualized hazing in colleges, such as pre-arranged annual “scraps” (read “battle”) between entire classes. So just being there made you fair game, rather than a club or team that you joined by choice. There seems to have been a lot of this in the big Western Plains state universities, perhaps partly explained as a general attempt to establish an identity when thrown together with thousands of their peers, after growing up on farms or ranches, or in minuscule towns.
Somewhere online I’ve read about how KU had an annual battle between the frosh and sophomore classes. After this was prohibited around 1910, a number of alumni protested the move, saying it would make “milksops” of the current students.
Be that as it may I don’t think hazing can be equated with bullying in every sense. Bullying is usually about exclusion and rejection. Although dangerous or humiliating hazing is indefensible, hazing differs from bullying in that it’s usually a ritual that will end in the victim’s being included.
I’m thinking back to the bullies I knew growing up. There were a select few rich-kid “I’m better than you” bullies-- about half of whom matured and are awesome people now and half went on to be drug-dealers and such-- but most bullies were fat, dumb, and typically already a year or two older than everybody else by middle school, meaning they failed at least one grade in elementary school, and virtually all of them dropped out of school by the 10th grade. None of them (that I know of) have ever set foot on a college campus.
In college the bullies can’t push and trip people anymore. There the people who like to use more subtle methods take over, like fraternity hazing. The point that you eventually get to join something doesn’t change the fact that hazing is a chance for the bullies to enjoy some abuse each year, like clockwork. The only difference is that the bullying is “traditional” and somewhat sanctioned, so bullies learn to continue their activities in new and different ways. That is what schooling is all about.
Not to mention that with frat hazing, one must sign up to be bullied, as it were.
I wasn’t in a frat in college and no one made me drink beer out their asshole.
That was completely voluntary on my part.
We moved quite a bit due to my Father’s job, so I got used to being the new kid. That usually put me on the bully’s radar. My Dad was a Marine, and taught me how to defend myself, so whenever I found myself face to face with the school bully, I just got it over with right away. I usually came out on top, but did get my ass kicked pretty good once. Every instance put a stop to any crap flung my way. Even the guy that beat me up left me alone from then on. I dont think most of them expect self defense, and in their own weird way respect someone that will at least attempt to put up a fight.
It’s pretty clear that people here don’t grasp the difference between fraternity hazing and bullying. Hazing is supposed to be a combination of a bonding experience and a test of your desire to join a particular group (and thus receive the benefits of being in that group).
Bullying is designed to intimidate, humiliate and otherwise exert power over another person.
Bullies don’t want to fight you. They want to beat you up.
Actually, the worst that I’ve seen/heard is the “revenge of the nerds” type stuff that goes on in graduate school. I’m talking about verbal abuse, threats, harassment, kicking people out of programs, leaving their names off research papers, etc, etc…
I barely even remember anything particularly nasty at high school - maybe one group chanting “nerds! nerds nerds!” at another group they didn’t like…