Why Can't I Like College?
- Thread starter MajWound
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I've gotta say I don't know how you can not love every second of uni. I just got my degree and I'd do anything to go back and do another course. It was the best 3 years of my life, hands down, and I wish I'd made even more of it, if that's possible.
I spent first year making like 50 new friends, second year in a fun, committed relationship (and making more friends) and third year studying to make sure it was all worth something at the end. University RULED!
I spent first year making like 50 new friends, second year in a fun, committed relationship (and making more friends) and third year studying to make sure it was all worth something at the end. University RULED!
Because you aren't obsessed with the drugs and sex like everyone else?
Personally I would recommend joining a few school clubs, they are quite fun. With a school of 50,000, you shouldn't have difficulty finding one you like.
You could also change your major if you find the classes that dull. Maybe you just don't like what you're doing? Take advantage of the electives that you probably have to take to look into other potential majors or minors that you could switch to.
YOU get off your high horse and stop being aforementioned asshole.
(speaking of high horses, "good by American standards?" Then why do so many Indians, Asians, and Europeans move here to go to school if our colleges suck so much.)
Edit: He never even said where the college was. But I guess we Americans are the only ones who are ever xenophobic-ethnocentric-"pricks".
Personally I would recommend joining a few school clubs, they are quite fun. With a school of 50,000, you shouldn't have difficulty finding one you like.
You could also change your major if you find the classes that dull. Maybe you just don't like what you're doing? Take advantage of the electives that you probably have to take to look into other potential majors or minors that you could switch to.
He never said anything about whether he could easily do the work or not, just that it was boring.syrus27 said:
YOU get off your high horse and stop being aforementioned asshole.
(speaking of high horses, "good by American standards?" Then why do so many Indians, Asians, and Europeans move here to go to school if our colleges suck so much.)
Edit: He never even said where the college was. But I guess we Americans are the only ones who are ever xenophobic-ethnocentric-"pricks".
I wasn't overly impressed with college, until I was finished. After I realized how much the working world sucks, I went back to school and I love it. You have to take a course you're interested in, and then make a few friends who share similar interests. Because of my program, I'm with the same 35 people every day of the week. We pretty much spend class talking and having fun, and do our work other times.
Sounds like you don't like the program you're there for, and haven't made a good attempt at making new friends. I'm not a party person at all myself, but one every few months with the people I like can be a fun time still. As for school pride, well I guess that depends on how involved you are. I don't care for my school much, but I'm still having fun and enjoying it.
Sounds like you don't like the program you're there for, and haven't made a good attempt at making new friends. I'm not a party person at all myself, but one every few months with the people I like can be a fun time still. As for school pride, well I guess that depends on how involved you are. I don't care for my school much, but I'm still having fun and enjoying it.
I'm not sure anyone ever likes college. At least not really...It's just classes. The one or two people that like it are probably more vocal about it.
As for the parties, you're not doing something right. Find some people you actually like hanging out with and party with them.
As for the parties, you're not doing something right. Find some people you actually like hanging out with and party with them.
i hated my university coz i always felt i didnt belong there as i was often overlooked, snubbed or plain ignored by the tutors and there little crew of fanboy's. good thing i play street fighter and met a bunch of cool people from other universities as the ones on my course were full of themselves!!!
You may not be in the right place OP. I loved the uni that I went to largely because I loved the community, something you seem to be lacking. I believe that you won't enjoy going to a certain school unless you have some measure of affection for the school, at this level, at least.
I grew up going to to sporting events and plays and such at LSU (my former uni) every year with my family, learning the history and traditions of the school long before I was able to enroll. Then when I got there myself, I loved the life, but hated my courses. Hardly any of them interested me, and after a while I didn't even bother to go to class anymore. Out of, say, 8 classes per semester only 1 or 2 were about what I actually wanted to study. I ended up dropping out in just over a year.
That was the best thing I ever did, because it led to me finding a very, very good school that exclusively taught what I wanted to study. I ended up leaving a full-time school with mediocre teachers teaching what I loved 20% of the time to go to a full-time school with excellent teachers teaching what I loved 100% of the time.
Take a step back, figure out what you want to do with your life (if you don't already know, that is), and look at your options. Is the school you're at now the best available place to learn what you want to learn? Is it feasible to go to a better school in a different state? Are there schools that you could conceivably go to that specialize in what you're interested in? They're questions that you'll have to answer, but when you do they could very well lead you to a place better suited for you.
I grew up going to to sporting events and plays and such at LSU (my former uni) every year with my family, learning the history and traditions of the school long before I was able to enroll. Then when I got there myself, I loved the life, but hated my courses. Hardly any of them interested me, and after a while I didn't even bother to go to class anymore. Out of, say, 8 classes per semester only 1 or 2 were about what I actually wanted to study. I ended up dropping out in just over a year.
That was the best thing I ever did, because it led to me finding a very, very good school that exclusively taught what I wanted to study. I ended up leaving a full-time school with mediocre teachers teaching what I loved 20% of the time to go to a full-time school with excellent teachers teaching what I loved 100% of the time.
Take a step back, figure out what you want to do with your life (if you don't already know, that is), and look at your options. Is the school you're at now the best available place to learn what you want to learn? Is it feasible to go to a better school in a different state? Are there schools that you could conceivably go to that specialize in what you're interested in? They're questions that you'll have to answer, but when you do they could very well lead you to a place better suited for you.
The problem being, we can't help you be happy there. Now imagine out of those 50,000 people there were even just 10 people going on the internet wondering why they aren't enjoying college like everyone else. They probably exist. It's just unlikely you'll find each other on the internet, so go find the people who think like you.MajWound said:
I mock my school. I've never gone to a football or basketball game. I don't drink. I don't go to parties. I don't care for any of the stereotypical college behavior, but I still enjoy my time here, because I spend my time with fairly like-minded people.
Because honestly, the only thing more bond forming than having joint pride with people is making fun and complaining with each other instead.
Actually I agree with that, I wouldn't associate with people who get drunk and attack cops either. They deserved punishment for their actions, whether teargas or jail. It isn't as if they were protesters trying to make a point, they were plain old rioters.syrus27 said:
As for the rest, observing that there is a substantial amount of crime which his family worries about is just mentioning that with 50,000 people, there are bound to be a few criminals.
And moving off campus with Asians, well personally I think Asians tend to be cooler than other races too (not always, there are plenty of douchebags among them as well).
What's wrong with him living where he wants?
School anthems are both meaningless and way too loud (to many of us). I plugged my ears during high school pep rallies and am glad that they aren't mandatory here.
The fact is, you are both insulting him for being a stupid American, and not accepting that he may not enjoy some of the things that you do (getting drunk and doing stupid stuff).
Well, I can think of a couple of reasons for your plight:
1. You didn't try to find the school that was right for you. You wound up at a huge university that (I assume) has a reputation for being a "party school", with a large "douchey frat guy" population.
2. You picked the wrong degree program. If you hate all your classes, you're doing something wrong.
3. College just isn't for you. It's not the only option for your future.
Or, most likely..
4. You're just lazy and self-important. Really, if you made any effort at all before going to college, or while there, you could enjoy it. Get involved in a club or a sport. Find a major that you actually like. Do anything at all to try and enjoy yourself.
As it is, you seem to expect your college experience to just hand you everything. You don't want to make an effort, don't want to try and make friends. Instead, you just want to coast through life, feeling all superior to everyone around you while never actually accomplishing anything.
So, if you want to enjoy your university, then I suggest you start by changing your attitude.
1. You didn't try to find the school that was right for you. You wound up at a huge university that (I assume) has a reputation for being a "party school", with a large "douchey frat guy" population.
2. You picked the wrong degree program. If you hate all your classes, you're doing something wrong.
3. College just isn't for you. It's not the only option for your future.
Or, most likely..
4. You're just lazy and self-important. Really, if you made any effort at all before going to college, or while there, you could enjoy it. Get involved in a club or a sport. Find a major that you actually like. Do anything at all to try and enjoy yourself.
As it is, you seem to expect your college experience to just hand you everything. You don't want to make an effort, don't want to try and make friends. Instead, you just want to coast through life, feeling all superior to everyone around you while never actually accomplishing anything.
So, if you want to enjoy your university, then I suggest you start by changing your attitude.
I didnt particularly find college all its cracked up to be either but I found a decent course and made some great friends. From reading your posts it just doesnt seem to be your thing, get your piece of paper and leave if thats what you want to do.
Or you could get out there and do something to try and improve youre experience, it doesnt have to be drinking or snorting endless lines of cocaine off of hookers, not everyone is into that. But shit dude if your like this now in college what are you going to be like when you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning and go to work.... and thats if your even lucky enough to get a full time job :|
Or you could get out there and do something to try and improve youre experience, it doesnt have to be drinking or snorting endless lines of cocaine off of hookers, not everyone is into that. But shit dude if your like this now in college what are you going to be like when you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning and go to work.... and thats if your even lucky enough to get a full time job :|
HA! I was going to quote that UMUC! http://www.umuc.edu/ any way I believe if I remember right a college is a institute with specialized degrees and a university is just a collection of colleges of different backgrounds ie you can go to a business college or you can go to a business college on a university campus where there might be other colleges like science, liberal arts etc.Jodah said:
MajWound said:
Well I think the root of the problem is that you believe class to be boring. Your classes should be mentally stimulating for you at the very least 50% of the time or you are completely squandering your time. The whole point of college (and why people find it liberating) is that for the first time in your educational life, you get to choose what YOU would like to study, as opposed to, for example, an incredibly gifted artist, being forced to study maths for years throughout primary and secondary school. If you think class is uninteresting then it seems you possibly may have not researched fully before choosing your university/subject(s).
As regards the social dilemma you are describing..I would believe that the tedium of your university subjects may be rubbing off on your mental state as a whole. It is very easy to get stuck in a rut and for issues to proliferate into many areas of your life as your mind frame is compromised because you?re unhappy.
The fact that you would brand 50,000 people as ?assholes? is testimony to your narrow-mindedness, to be blunt.. Labelling all people your age as idiots is idiotic in itself, granted you will find a fair portion of people which you believe to be ?idiots?, but I can guarantee there are copious amounts of educated people there that you could become friends with if you opened up a little. Obviously university is a place where young adults first break free from the constraints of their parents and as such many students will consume a lot of alcohol, simply because they now can, and this often leads to idiotic behaviour but it?s just a learning experience for some students and you may just be a bit more mature than SOME of your fellow classmates (not all). The number of students who were actually involved in the attack of the squad car is most likely very few when compared to the number of students at your college. In my own college numerous students did something similar, threw vast amounts of glass beer bottles etc. except it was at a fire brigade which had come to put out a fire which the students themselves had started in the college accommodation. I realise that there were a select few involved in the actual act of setting the fire and throwing bottles even though there were hundreds of students present and drinking, I can appreciate the difference between the two groups.
The only advice I could offer, if you are going to continue with a course you are unhappy with, is to definitely join some clubs or societies that DO interest you. It will be something to look forward to and most likely you will find some people which you can socialise with that you can relate to and aren?t what you deem to be ?idiots?. Anything is better than sitting at home wallowing. Give college a chance and take yourself off the pedestal you believe yourself to be on. You should see a change
Whoops double post...MajWound said:
Oh I think the person who outlined confusion and bolded the words college and university may have been puzzled because in England, college and university are two different things! students go to primary then secondary then college and then university. Just a guess though
There isn't one structured system that works for everyone. That's unfortunate as many careers absolutely require having a degree in order to even get your foot in the door. However, you do what you've got to do in order to get to the position you desire.
If I'm misunderstanding you OP, sorry. But it sounds to me like there are a couple factors at play here.
For one, it sounds like you maybe picked the wrong school to attend. When I was looking at colleges, I made it a point that I wanted to go to a fairly small school in a decent area with little or no reputation for being a party school. I'm really not big on the whole drinking and partying scene either. I've never found parties particularly fun, and quite frankly, alcohol gets very expensive, very fast. During my four years at HPU I don't recall a single story about a party getting out of hand or police having to teargas student or shootings or stabbings or muggings or rape or anything like that. I wanted a very specific type of atmosphere for the school I attended, so that's what I looked for, that's what I got, and I was more than happy with it.
For another, it sounds like maybe you aren't particularly satisfied with your course of studies. During my Freshman year I really wasn't very sure of what I actually wanted to major in, and ended up switching my major three times before settling on one that I liked. I was pretty much miserable before finding that one. I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed in the morning to go to class, I daydreamed or played video games on my laptop instead of paying attention in class, I half-assed all my work and never studied for tests... needless to say, my grades were unimpressive during that time, which made me feel that much worse, since my parents were footing the bill. Seriously, once I found the right major, pretty much everything changed. I actually (/gasp) liked going to class. I was interested in the course work, and I was now surrounded by like-minded professors and students that I could have good conversations with. Finding the right major made a world of difference for me. So you might want to consider browsing your school's course catelog, and maybe trying out some different majors. You never know, you might find something you really like.
As for your peers... you seem to be generalizing quite a bit about the quality of people around you. During my Freshman year I was assigned a roommate that I hated. I had nothing in common with him and our personalities clashed on everything. With the problems I was having with my classes from having not settled on a major yet and the depression from being away from my home and friends, combined with a roommate from Hell, I was fully willing to get all reclusive. Didn't really bother getting to know anyone because I thought it was just going to be more people like my roommate, and spent most of my time in my room or in the library on my computer, wishing I were at home with the people I actually like to be around. On a suggestion from a friend back home to at least try to be social with people, I decided to attend a school-hosted gaming night in the student center. Ended up meeting two of my future roommates there, who then introduced me to a bunch of their friends, and before I knew it I was part of a big group of people that shared similar interests, had similar personalities, and with similar senses of humor. If I hadn't taken the advice from my friend back home, I probably would have requested a single dorm for my Sophomore year and played recluse for the rest of my time at school, and no doubt wouldn't have had any of the incredibly fond memories of the place that I have now.
After having graduated with my degree, I'm now back home. I've been home for a year now. I have a decent job, but it doesn't make me happy. I find myself pretty much always missing my buddies from HPU and their antics, and the long conversations I'd have with my professors after class that pretty much always challenged what I'd always believed to be hard fact. Though things got off to an incredibly rocky start my Freshman year, I took the effort to make things better for myself, and I look back on my other three years of college as the best three years of my life so far.
Take that for what you will.
For one, it sounds like you maybe picked the wrong school to attend. When I was looking at colleges, I made it a point that I wanted to go to a fairly small school in a decent area with little or no reputation for being a party school. I'm really not big on the whole drinking and partying scene either. I've never found parties particularly fun, and quite frankly, alcohol gets very expensive, very fast. During my four years at HPU I don't recall a single story about a party getting out of hand or police having to teargas student or shootings or stabbings or muggings or rape or anything like that. I wanted a very specific type of atmosphere for the school I attended, so that's what I looked for, that's what I got, and I was more than happy with it.
For another, it sounds like maybe you aren't particularly satisfied with your course of studies. During my Freshman year I really wasn't very sure of what I actually wanted to major in, and ended up switching my major three times before settling on one that I liked. I was pretty much miserable before finding that one. I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed in the morning to go to class, I daydreamed or played video games on my laptop instead of paying attention in class, I half-assed all my work and never studied for tests... needless to say, my grades were unimpressive during that time, which made me feel that much worse, since my parents were footing the bill. Seriously, once I found the right major, pretty much everything changed. I actually (/gasp) liked going to class. I was interested in the course work, and I was now surrounded by like-minded professors and students that I could have good conversations with. Finding the right major made a world of difference for me. So you might want to consider browsing your school's course catelog, and maybe trying out some different majors. You never know, you might find something you really like.
As for your peers... you seem to be generalizing quite a bit about the quality of people around you. During my Freshman year I was assigned a roommate that I hated. I had nothing in common with him and our personalities clashed on everything. With the problems I was having with my classes from having not settled on a major yet and the depression from being away from my home and friends, combined with a roommate from Hell, I was fully willing to get all reclusive. Didn't really bother getting to know anyone because I thought it was just going to be more people like my roommate, and spent most of my time in my room or in the library on my computer, wishing I were at home with the people I actually like to be around. On a suggestion from a friend back home to at least try to be social with people, I decided to attend a school-hosted gaming night in the student center. Ended up meeting two of my future roommates there, who then introduced me to a bunch of their friends, and before I knew it I was part of a big group of people that shared similar interests, had similar personalities, and with similar senses of humor. If I hadn't taken the advice from my friend back home, I probably would have requested a single dorm for my Sophomore year and played recluse for the rest of my time at school, and no doubt wouldn't have had any of the incredibly fond memories of the place that I have now.
After having graduated with my degree, I'm now back home. I've been home for a year now. I have a decent job, but it doesn't make me happy. I find myself pretty much always missing my buddies from HPU and their antics, and the long conversations I'd have with my professors after class that pretty much always challenged what I'd always believed to be hard fact. Though things got off to an incredibly rocky start my Freshman year, I took the effort to make things better for myself, and I look back on my other three years of college as the best three years of my life so far.
Take that for what you will.