Is college any better than high school?

Good advice for any stage of life.

I am in college right now, and I can tell you that it has not been easy to make friends. I figured out that I have a personality that most people don't click with (I talk about obscure things that many people just don't care about - and I've never tried to change that about myself because I like who I am). So, it was tough the first couple of years. I had no purpose, and I didn't know what I wanted to do after I graduated. That's another thing...I think knowing what you want to do helps happiness a lot. A lot of people say you shouldnt worry about that too soon, and they're right to an extent. But the purpose of college is to get somewhere in the world, and once you figure that out, you will enjoy your experience and your classes, and all the things you learn outside of class that much better. If you're expecting to make life-long friends, I think your hopes are too high because people move onward and outward after college, many times not seeing each other for long periods of time. You certainly will meet fantastic people who will shape your view of the world. And that in itself is valuable.

I had super-high expectations for college life (and an improved social life from sucky High School). And, once you make expectations like that, they can never be met. Please take the experience for what it is, and what it has the potential to be. Remember all friendships take nurturing, and some people you meet will be great...but will be temporary. Remember that your education is important, and that really is the reason that you are in college. If you keep all those things in mind, you'll be fine.

I should say this, now that I have somethings aired out. IS college better than highschool? Yes! You finally get a chance to take control of your life and make decisions. You get to choose what classes are best for you and what interests you. You are more responsible for your actions. These are the important steps into adulthood.
One thing I never did say. Good luck in your academic endeavors, and use college for what its there for: an education, not a reason to party.

But don't forget to have fun....you will be able to do things and get away with so much in college that you can't in "real life".

That's not why a person should be going to college bella

No....but life experience and being a kid for the last time is just as important. Why do you want kids to grow up so fast? Enjoy the time you have to screw off and do stupid things.

Getting an education and having fun can go together. You must have missed out on so much to have this mentality. College is a blast! I graduated and have a great job but I also had a hell of a time and miss it a lot.

your right, I didn't have the luxury of wasting four years of time and money. I grew up fast by going straight in the military. I see the difference in people who went to college to enjoy themselves and those people who took on life in responsible ways. I enjoyed college immensily. I enjoyed it for my academic education.

even I can say lighten up ralph. you can be both a good student and have a social life. being a total hermit is no fun at all, and it makes your academic achievements meaningless because you have nobody to share them with.

So you're saying that my contribution to society is less than yours? Or that somehow you turned out better than I did because you joined the military? I think you are bitter over not being able to enjoy college like a lot of people and so you tell those of us who did that we "wasted four years of time and money" and our education means nothing or less because we had a good time doing it. I guess then you didn't learn one of the valuable things I learned from college and that is tolerance of others. You refuse to accept that people can party as hard as they study and graduate with honors after having experienced four years of so many different things. I feel sad for you. I feel sad that you felt the need to grow up so fast and not have that last hurrah. Poor you. But, chin up. You have your fabulous education to look back on. I only have four years worth of memories of good times, friends and learning things I'd only read about until college. Life sure sucks.

Oh yea, I had FIVE years of good college times.

Also...your mom goes to college.

weird, i think college is just like high school. walk in to class everyday and listen to how wasted everyone got. it's like they're all trying to out drink each other. i've gotten into some outdoor sports like rock climbing and find that meeting people doing what you love is so much easier than in classes, plus you instantly bond over something so it's easier to stay in touch and develop a meaningful friendship.

Honestly, in some (many?) cases college is little more than a day-care center. Like high school. The aim is to contain folks and process them up for the work force and economy. You get 19, 20, 21 yr olds and up who have never learnt how to take care of themselves. There IS a big trend and problem with many college 'kids' (c'mon, they are adults already!) who end up living at home after graduation. They have no idea what life is about.

I hope no one takes this the wrong way. There is a certain level of brainwashing involved. Go to high school, go to college, then get a good-paying job, get a wife/hub, have kids, buy a house, buy a car, get drunk on the week-end and take a pill when things start to 'eat' you.

At 18; is it really a 'right' to have an extended childhood/teenage-hood? Is it actually beneficial to the person overall?

I'm shutting up now.

I have to differ with you flushd. I think it CAN be the case but at my school it wasn't like that. Sure, you get your 18 year old who's never done laundry or the dishes and can't figure out up from down even after graduation but for the most part, diversity of thought was really pushed at my school and learning how to make a difference in life. I know it sounds corny and maybe I just hung out with the right crowd and joined the right groups but I was also a mentor for freshman so I passed down my information to a new class. I don't think you give these kids much credit.

I was never taught the "go to college, get a good paying job....etc" crap. I was taught to make a difference, no matter how small. Perhaps it's because I went to a fairly large university where there were so many different people and views. College really helped me open my eyes to things I'd never experienced in my home town, gave me aspirations and dreams to look forward to and introduced me to people I'd never met before (ethnic folk :wink: ).

The way kids are coddled and raised in this country makes it necessary (IMO) for college on a few different levels.
1) Kids aren't expected to do chores and other things many of us (or our parents) did as kids. They don't learn that responsibility early on like our parents. College is a way to introuduce them to "real life". It might be soft but we could just draft them and make them grow up like many of our fathers did....being a man long before they should have been. Life has changed. We are living longer. Being an adult at 18 isn't necessary anymore since we won't be dying (we hope) at 35.

2) Many kids never see anything but the small town they grew up in. They never meet a black person or an Asian . Sounds funny but in my hometown, seriously now I think there might be 10 black families. When I went to high school there, there was one. If I hadn't gone to college, I'd have never moved to Detroit and would never started the life I now love.

3) It's a time to experiment and learn who you are without screwing up the rest of your life. Life moves really fast and what's the point of it if you can't enjoy the moment and the choices you make that determine how the rest of your life goes. Without college, I'd never have discovered half the potential out there for change. I'd never have thought about it.

As for anna's comment about the drinking well, that's just kids testing their boundaries. Some get into the drinking like a fish scene some smoke pot until they can't smoke anymore and others throw themselves into crazy causes. It's all part of the growing process I think is important to developing people.

Do I think some universities are lax in admissions and passing or graduation standards? Yes. I think that you should learn as hard as you party because feeding your mind is just as important to your development in society as being a more well rounded, tolerant person is. Do I think that some kids waste their parents money at school? Yes. I had to work my way though college so I got the best of both worlds. I learned how to make it on my own without being tossed over board to drown.

Quick comments:

1) Absolutely. These days, people change careers several times. This isn't a sign of weakness, it's a fact of life and it shows you're able to roll with the punches. My job has changed a lot because tech ain't what it was way back when. This would be true even if I was still practicing law. The technology revolution has, quite simply, changed every single job out there that being in college prepares you for. Everything from animal husbandry to archaeology to law to medicine to historian to metallurgist. Everything. So students need to not only learn facts, etc. but also lifetime learning skills. And they need to know how to study and change and grow. It's highly unlikely that most people will know, at age 18 or 21 or 25 or even 30 what they really, really want to do and what will make them happy and fulfilled and continually keep food on the table for the following decades. But if they learn how to learn and how to adapt, they will continue to keep roofs over their heads even if the actual subject they work on changes.

2) Oh yeah. Truer words were never spoken. Heck, I was the first Jew one of my freshman year suitemates had ever seen -- and she was from Providence, RI! College expands boundaries. The common bond is intellect and area of interest (e. g. media people at Emerson College, engineers at MIT, etc.), rather than an accident of where your parents bought or rented a home.

3) Yes again. These are still kids. Let's not (no pun intended) kid ourselves. They are going to mess up and do things that are not perfectly adult. Of course they will! Something magical doesn't suddenly happen on someone's 18th birthday that converts them from a kid to an adult. They need to move along in a maturing process. Some get it during college, some get it before and some get it afterwards. Actually, I'm a fan of a year off, possibly to do community service (like City Year) or to do a kind of internship (such as Teach for America) or even things like Peace Corps or, yes, the Armed Forces. One year. Age 21. Or 18 if you like. Or 19. It doesn't matter. Just, get 'em when they're young, before they are committed to marriages and children and mortgages and careers. Before student loans start coming due. Before they are (for the most part) caring for aged parents. While they are still fresh-faced. And put 'em to work. They could build houses in low income areas, pick up trash, tutor kids, clear land for farming, teach computers to senior citizens, things like that. I think that would mature people in a big way and send 'em out, finally, as more solid citizens of the world.

yea ok



Well, whenever students visit college information sessions, the admissions officer talks a lot about student life on campus.
they talk about the food, friendships, places to go on weekends, etc.

hmmm i wonder why... maybe cause having a social life in college is important! It's nice that you were in the military and whatever, and that's obviously the reason you're so uptight and strict. But, you're no better than anyone else in the world. you should have figured that out by now since you're so "wise."


even people who go to Harvard party.

I have an Associates degree in Engineering, and here are my experiences. College is much more free and loose. You will have less opportunities to make friends because the age gap is obviously bigger, interests are even more varied, activities and classes are way more varied, etc. There are fewer instances of people being put into groups/activities repeatedly, so less opportunities to make friends.

In college people have more responsibilities and much less time to start a friendship with you. Highschool is really where life-long friendships are forged.

Not really, instead of being obsessed with about what click is doing what, people only care about alcohol. I am currently a chem student and I really only enjoy the school part of it, not the social part of it. Everyone wants to stay inside and really only do things when alcohol is involved. If you are not going to college for an education there is no point to go. In college you will see even more immature assholes that, instead of the kids who are going to high school, pretend that they are completely independent while mommy and daddy pay for everything. It sucks, it is hard, and the people stay just as immature, if not more immature. The drama increases, so does bordem. If I had to do it all over again I would have just joined the military.

It CAN be, but you have to pick and choose the college wisely and well. A lot of formerly serious colleges and universities have degenerated into political correctness and indoctrination factories.

Yeah cause none of those military guys (or gals for that matter) ever drink or party.

Egads...college was LOADS better than highschool. I did much better gradewise and had a whole lot more fun! I am a rebel though...so as soon as it was up to me to do what I had to - I bucked up. Shameful that rebellious nature of mine...gets me into all kinds of trouble.