Is college really the best 4 years of your life?

its pretty darn good. but if i could go back i wouldn't. draw what you will from that

Definitely not. The best part of your life is when youre still a toddler and you have absolutely no expectations set for you other than to play around and wait until you grow older.

It would be really, genuinely sad if your life peaks from ages 18-22 and goes downhill from there. You're really doing life wrong. Especially if studying accounting is "the glory days"..

College was, at the time, the best 4 years of my life. I don't know if that makes complete sense, but I spent the first year exploring, broadening my interests, making friends, etc. the 2nd and 3rd years were spent partying, drinking, having a great time. By the midpoint of senior year I felt things getting repetitive (you can only go out to the same 5 bars so many nights in a row). Partying (multiple times a week) started to get old. I found a new interests, challenges, wanted to work on my relationships, etc.

Now having been out of school for a little over one year I don't know if I can definitively say it is any better or worse than my time in college. It definitely is different though. I get home from work and there is no "shit I have to study" or "shit I have homework / papers due". (Granted I'm still studying, but things that interest me, on my own time, at my own pace). I have (some) money, I can travel, I find new challenges at work.

The fact is people change, interests change, goals change. A four year college stint is, in my opinion, the perfect amount of time to embark on the adventure, get comfortable, begin to get bored and then begin anew.

Goodness I'd be depressed if my best 4 years were in college... What a sad outlook on life by anyone that feels that way. IMO your early to mid 30s are likely great years for a lot of people. You have more freedom versus your work horse years pre 30, you should have a good amount of money and by then you have eliminated the worthless people from your life and should have developed your 5-10 person close friend group that you do things with like traveling, get togethers, etc.

college is the best years of your life (for most people) because of the naivete of college students in general. You don't have responsibilities yet. You are away from your parents for the 1st time in your life, so you have that euphoria from the taste of freedom. When you spend all your time either learning, or playing...but never being tasked to be responsible for commercial result...its easy to have the best time of your life. Even for people who go on to have careers where they make millions of dollars, marry an extremely attractive and engaging partner who loves you completely...there is no way to compare the utter joy of childhood...it just cannot be replaced.

Remember..."Time" is the most valuable commodity

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As someone who is paying for the entirety of their tuition out of pocket at a time when they are at historic (likely unsustainable) levels: absolutely not.

Highschool was cooler than middle school. College was cooler than highschool. Adult life is weird for a like a year or two maybe but then is much cooler than college. People who act like some stage is the pinnacle and then it's all downhill must have little to live for.

Certain aspects of college are hard to replicate in adult life, and sad to say, gone forever once the train has left the station. It doesn't mean you can't have fun or equally good experiences in your post-collegiate days - just that you can't have those exact moments.

Much in the same sense that you can't (consciously) become a child again - and you know what? That's a good thing. Life experience is very much a series of rooms, where you enter a new one - but can't go back to the old - and if you can, it's going to be different.

College was a nice experience because for most students, it's the "adult-lite" learning area. You get a ton of slack and free-passes which you'd never get later in life, and other people are equally inexperienced - which is a HUGE factor. You're not a bumbling newbie by yourself, and you can be whoever you want to be. It's the place where many people re-invent themselves.

For me, college was a great time. Was it the best? No, but it's up there. I did whatever I wanted to do, and no-one gave two shits about it.

The thing you notice after entering the "real" adult world, is that people get more responsibilities. Family, work, themselves, other commitments. People become less impulsive. Want to do something fun? Better plan it 2 months ahead.

I'm now in my early 30's, and most social stuff has really changed, and very fast at that. Half of my friends have kids, a quarter has completely mellowed out, the last quarter are living life as before. People you hung out with weekly, have become a monthly thing. Some even less.

But the good thing is that you're more financially stable, and can do more exciting stuff - things you never could have afforded during college. Some boring and mundane stuff becomes fun. Instead of getting hammered every weekend, you either stay home doing regular life stuff, or travel.

If there's one thing I miss from my young adulthood / college years, it's the intense camaraderie. The youthful naivety - the feeling that NOTHING is impossible, and that you're destined for greatness. The careless fun, and being impulsive...no minute planning, just doing stuff.

Also, the number one regret I hear from my peers, is: - "I wish I had gone to college / university" (For those that joined the work-force straight out of HS) - "I wish I had traveled / studied abroad" - "I wish I had been more social"

Also, I want to point out: For the vast majority of people, the work-horse days continue to your middle-ages.

Very, very few people (yes, I know this is WSO) get into intense careers where they slave away their 20's, and reap the benefits of a slightly-less stressed 30's.

Many probably imagine their 30's as the coolest period of their life, where they've matured into seasoned professionals (and well-rounded people in general), with stimulating / rewarding job that pays low-mid six figures, all while having the time to travel every other week, with their equally adventurous and child-free partner.

That's probably the case for quite few people - but for most? Life just happens. I know far, far more 30-something bankers that are stuck in the same corporate rat-race due to life circumstances, than those coasting life and living it to the maximum.

But whatever, you can do what you want to. Just be smart and plan ahead.

FratLord knows best for this topic

College is where a bunch of adults, who are in prime mating age (read extremely horny and constantly desiring something up their asses or around their danglings), don't have anything to do all day, except show up to a class for a few hours. This is where people realize you can and should do drugs (in their heads) because without money and a personality, it will be very difficult to fill the time, with your own initiative and ideas.

If you're a loser. Now is the best so far for me. Getting better pretty constantly.