Is college really supposed to be the best four years of your life?
Gee, I really hope not.
Is it bad that I'm waiting to graduate and enter the real world? Living on my campus of 1400 people has been far from enjoyable; the demographic is the most socially and economically homogeneous I've ever seen, the campus is in the middle of a desert, and the women are way too aggressive, masculine, and selfish for me to be remotely attracted to them.
While certain experiences (ex. first party of freshman year, studying abroad, summer internships abroad) were certainly memorable, all things equal, I'd rather not be here right now. In fact, if someone told me to pack up my bags tomorrow and leave, the only thing that would prevent me from doing so would be additional on-campus recruiting opportunities.
I obviously can't speak about the "real world", but I can say that any place where I can actually choose who to be around is immensely appealing. Anywhere where I can be around normal women will probably cheer up my mood a bit. And I've had tremendous amounts of fun during the summers off-campus.
I've heard people say they miss college because of the sheer amount of free time they had, but I think having spare time on your hands can actually backfire when you're struggling to find some sort of meaning amongst all of this while everyone else is playing beer pong 24/7; I think I've driven myself insane in the process.
What do you guys think? How is the real world compared to college? Is there life after college?
Only read the title. Go have a few drinks with some friends and don't fuck it up, because once you're done with college, you're done.
you think investment banking women are normal? that you can chose who you work with? that the freedom of college isn't something you only get a few times in your life...?
Are you serious? I'm in college, a current junior, and granted if you want a career in banking, etc, you won't have as much freetime as you'd like, ENJOY IT. Some people have more fun that others in college, but you're being a little girl. Be open-minded. Why in the world did you go to a 1400 person school that I'm sure you knew wasn't going to be fun?
Don't fuck it up and start dating girls.
Best advice my dear sorority friend gave me (she was a 3.85 Math): Study, study, study Sunday to Wednesday; party your ass off Thirsty Thursday's, Friday+Saturday.
Get above a 3.7 and do whatever you want. Stay connected to your professors though, and help out during classes. Go to all the hockey games, football games. Start a club, join a club. Eat a lot, because off campus, you can't afford 8 chicken breasts, 9 eggs a day if you're bulking.
MEET PEOPLE.
I can't say I remember all the classes I took or that I carry my first A+ essay in my wallet. But my friends, always. The few times in your life you can go through drama (girlfriends, ex'es, dating) without everything else falling apart. Just go to class, what else?
Remember to party and build a narrative. It'll show during the interview dinners if you did nothing but study.
And dating after college, is not the same. Unless you are dating college girls.
Some of co-workers are Koreans who envy my plan to go to grad school. Thing is, for them, "there is a time to study. a time to have fun. a time to work." Guess which part lasts 50 years till conk?
ENJOY IT. GET LAID.
I think that attitude may just stay with you when you enter the "real world." Always waiting for something "better" to happen...
I definitely feel this way sometimes but then I remember that in six months when its 2 am I'll be stuck in a cublicle changing the periods into semicolons and I immediately snap out of it.
Just take a chill pill. You can find other activities, meet people who aren't as fluffy, try new restauraunts, or take a new hobby like wine tasting
I've had a lot of fun in college... probably a little too much fun actually. But I certainly hope that I never look back on this time as the BEST four years of my entire life.
The best years of your life are whichever years you are happiest. For a lot of people, that's college.
You have nearly unlimited free time. You are surrounded by 18-22 year old women. You get to study whatever you want. You have almost no responsibility. You can go out on a Tuesday, get shitfaced, take home a complete stranger, and not really have any repercussions. You can skip class and go for a jog if you feel like it. You can masturbate at 2:00 in the afternoon no questions asked.
People like college for the freedom. Once you're working, you start losing your liberty. At first, you'll rent an apartment, but you'll buy something sooner or later. And you'll eventually buy a car. If you're 'normal' (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean), you'll meet someone and have some children. Now, you've got real problems and real responsibilty. You have a mortgage, a car payment, student loans to repay, and a family that depends on you to provide for them. You can't exactly go get shitfaced on a Tuesday any longer, can you?
And it's not like you're going to be able to bang 20-year-olds forever. And women--like badly kempt wines--only turn to vinegar with age. At some point, you're going to be 30, and it's going to start looking questionable that you're dating a 20-year-old. And at 40, even if they don't mention it to your face, people will start to think you're a paedophile. The thing is--the women you think are hot now are going to be the same women you think are hot when you're 40. They are just going to be much less likely to bang you as you age.
And you probably wake up every day without pain right now. You recover quickly from hangovers, and you can still run a mile in 5 or 6 minutes. That's not always going to be the case. One day, you'll wake up, and you'll ache. Your body will start to break down, and you'll know you're in for the long, slow decline of a life that was meant for 50 years stretched to 90. Your dick at some point will not work any longer. Your mind will weaken. You are smarter, stronger, faster, and healthier now than you are ever likely to be in the future.
Age is not by itself a virtue. Wisdom is a virtue--the wisdom that comes from experience; experience that comes from leading a life less common than most. Most people simply fade into a shadow of their former selves, growing tired and more insular as they age. It isn't a foregone conclusion, but for the ones that do, they look back and think of all the things that might have been. All the women they could have been with. All of the jobs they could have done. All of the classes they could have taken. All of the friends they could have made. All of the trips they could have taken. All the ways their lives could have changed.
Who sits around wishing they could be married with kids, and seven different kinds of debt? Who wants to work 80-100 hours per week doing PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets? I don't, and I can't imagine too many people do. It's the shit we tolerate so we can repay our student loans and participate in an elitist circle jerk with our classmates at reunions (by the way, I'm winning--kudos to me).
My advice: show up to a class for which you're not registered tomorrow, and pretend like you have Tourette's. Just shout out "KUNT...SLUT!' whenever you feel like it. The professor may get confused initially, and you may be asked to leave, but you're not going to face any real punishment so long as you really sell it. Try that in two years in the office, and see what happens.
Just to be clear, I do lament not being able to curse loudly at strangers in the office.
You're welcome.
One of the best posts on this forum.
COLLEGE!!
Not everyone likes their college experience, but make the best of it and i don't mean just getting wasted!
i felt the same way as you freshman and sophomore year. And in my senior year I occasionally feel the same, but you gotta put yourself out there and try new things.
After having a shitty first two years i came up with a new motto: if someone asks you to try or do something with them, there is only one answer, YES
it will make things much more exciting
looks like someone watch a Jim Carey movie.....but jokes aside, saying yes to everything is great advice.
Its what you make of it. I enjoy college, but I also worked hard so that I can enjoy my life afterwards as well. People who enjoy it too much and graduate with a 2.3 won't have the same sorts of opportunities towards the end of their lives.
If you work hard and play your cards right, you can be a fifty year old making great money, and doing work that is intellectually stimulating beyond anything you might be doing if you slack off in school and aren't granted the same opportunities throughout life. So if you want the freedom to go out during the week and lay around and smoke weed and fuck girls with no consequences, then yes, college will be the best four years.
At 50, freedom is totally different. You think Bill Gross does grunt work (he might be a little less than 50). He sells his business and gets to do the research he enjoys and doesn't need to waste his time doing shit he might not like. Or even distinguished academics or politicians. These guys have the freedom to pursue, within reason, intellectual endeavors that would not otherwise be available if they slacked off their whole life. It all depends on the individual. Of course, I'm only 20 so perhaps I'm living in some naive delusional fantasy where I don't see the world the way it really is.
If you talked to some MBAs, they will say that those 2 years were on par if not the best years of their life (in comparison to college). The biggest difference is that freedom for 2 years means so much more, since you've been in the workforce, whereas in college, you have no idea what it means to be a slave/etc. I'll admit I'm ready for b school - sounds like college but more money, and for the most part a good job afterwards.
Also - regretting or missing college only makes it worse once youre out, esp if youre in banking...
Life is what you make of it. Mine is more enjoyable every year because I make it so. The people that say that high school and college were the best times of their lives are generally the people that haven't done shit with their lives since. The only thing I miss is the former ignorance of my mortality and carefree attitude that came with being child-free. Life changes as you get older and you can embrace or bemoan them at every single stage - but you control it with your attitude. Go have some fun and learn how to make the best of an undesirable situation. That skill will take you far in this world.
Most of my friends that have interesting things going with their lives--inside and outside of work--like post-college life much more than college. Save I guess the people who are in certain IB groups that make them work sweatshop hours.
College was certainly an enjoyable period in time... Sure you had to study, but there was so much drinking, fraternizing and random sex that it really was legit. Spring break in St. Bartz one year, Amsterdam the next... long weekend ski trips to Aspen w/ plenty of smokey lift-rides... it could have been a lot worse.
That said, I'd say that: College
i hated 3/4 of college...not cuz i wanted to, not cuz i was too busy studying, shit just didn't work out for me. since then, life has improved exponentially...
there's definitely life after college. so hang in there.
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