I went to college to...

[vtlion]

Ok, it's anonymous, so lets be honest.  Don't vote how you feel now, vote how you felt when you first hit the books as a freshman.... excuse me... fresh-person 

It is fall again, and as I wander through a sea of teenagers acting like TOTAL IDIOTS for the TENTH time in my life, I begin to question most people's motivation for going to college.  IMO, college is quickly becoming the new high school... everybody gets to go and as long as they don't rock the boat too much, they are allowed on through and get a sheep-skin.  Professional distinction occurs in graduate school or the workplace these days.

But that's just my opinion, lets get some data.  The results will be published in the GStwin Journal of Higher Education.

Note: I realize that the GStwinners of the world don't accurately represent the chuckleheads I'm dealing with from day to day on campus, but lets see what happens anyway. [/i]

I will give you my full perspective when I get a chance, but for now I have to spend my time getting ready to teach.  I'll check back when I can.

[yamahonkawazuki]

and i plan on returning for architecture. heh im 31 now id be one of the few on campus able to buy alky legally

[Alphamazing]

I wanted to go to college so I could learn to be an engineer, to learn enough to get into grad school and earn my Master's, thereby allowing me to get a well paying job so I can buy things and live comfortably.

I am surrounded by those idiots that you're talking about and I totally see what you mean by the "new high school" comment. Some stuff is barbarically easy, but there is other stuff that is still difficult if you don't put the time in.

[makenzie71]

I didn't go for a number of reasons:

...I didn't have cash and loan/grant paperwork is...well...it's paperwork.

...I don't like people.  College is a bad way to get away from people.

...I like working.  College is a bad way to fill in that time between working and sleeping.

...I couldn't think of anything to go for.  College is almost obsolete now that the internet is main stream.  The only thing the internet hasn't done for me is tell me where the clitoris is...of all things...

[blue05twin]

Didn't go, but I'm making enought so that my wife doesn't have to work and we live comfortably.

Went to DoD school's and the coulselors there don't really tell you about grants, student loans and stuff like they do here in the states. 

I'm sorta of a work-a-holic.  Been working sense I was 15, if I have more than 2 day's off from work I start going crazy looking for stuff to do.  And besides more than 24 hrs with the wife and I'm ready to head back to work.     

[makenzie71]

^ditto.  20 hour work days...all of them.

[ops_south]

What a nice memory- all of the high school children in college.  I was always amazed at how many of them would come out of the woodwork come test time.  As if showing up only for the tests would be some benefit to them.... And the incessant chatter throughout the class session from the few that did show up....

[vtlion]

I guess I'm just hyper-sensitive to it this year because I'm teaching a lab section.  This means I am going through a week of teacher training, which consists of going through the labs, discussing class policy, and swapping horror stories of students who think they deserve a passing grade for a lousy effort or who spend more energy complaining about the work they are assigned than they do actually working.

I'll be honest, when I first went to college I knew I wanted to get that degree and teach some day, but I did also enjoy staying on mom-n-dad's payroll for another 4 years.  Spending ten years in college has taught me many things, one the most important of which is that a college degree alone tells you very little about a person.  These days if you have the money and the time, a college degree can be had by almost anyone.

[LPC2104]

I went because it was just what you did.  That and I wanted to keep playing basketball.

Vtlion -  I know exactly how you feel about all the kids coming in. 

Imagine your town of about 60,000 people.  Now overnight, imagine 60,000 more people moving in.  That's what it's like right now in State College.  Idiots that don't know where they are going so I curse everytime I ride/drive to work, freshman too fast too furious rides trying to prove themselves by cruising Beaver, never being able to go out to eat, waiting in line for 10 minutes anywhere you go.  This list could go on and on.

[LimaXray]

I wanted to go to college so I could learn to be an engineer, to learn enough to get into grad school and earn my Master's, thereby allowing me to get a well paying job so I can buy things and live comfortably.

+1 to the T

Every year the freshman amuse the hell out of me for the first couple months.  On friday and saturday nights they stick out like a sore thumb; wandering up and down the streets trying to figure out where these parties are they keep seeing in the moives, acting goofy as hell.  Girls are the worst; the get all dressed up like they're going to work the corner, wander around in these big freaking packs, then get so stupidly drunk because this is the 3rd time they're drank in their entire life, then gladly take off their clothes for anyone who asks.  Talk about in need of attention

Most people grow out of this... sooner or later

[Turd Ferguson]

Every year the freshman amuse the hell out of me for the first couple months.  On friday and saturday nights they stick out like a sore thumb; wandering up and down the streets trying to figure out where these parties are they keep seeing in the moives, acting goofy as hell.  Girls are the worst; the get all dressed up like they're going to work the corner, wander around in these big freaking packs, then get so stupidly drunk because this is the 3rd time they're drank in their entire life, then gladly take off their clothes for anyone who asks.  Talk about in need of attention

Most people grow out of this... sooner or later

Good gravy, I agree 100%.  Especially the girls part.

College is funny.  As everyone gets older and has spent a few years at their school, they become positive that the freshman are changing and are becoming more and more worthless.  I've been here more years than I care to admit and I'm pretty sure we acted the same as freshman.  Some people will get kicked out, the rest will grow up and someday complain about the freshman.

What I am getting sick of...the motorcycles.  EVERYONE here rides a race replica.  We have 80 motorcycle spots at the engineering building alone.  Two years ago you might have seen 40-50 bikes at the busiest time of the day.  Now you can find at least 10 motorcycles waiting for spots because they are all full.  I'm telling you...it seems the days of the supersport street legal motorcycles is going to end.  Too many kids getting their hands on death machines at the age of 19 with no real experience.  Flip flops, t-shirt and shorts to match your flashy 100hp bike is a MUST now.

-Turd.

[Jake D]

Speaking of the Little Apple, you guys almost shaZam! the bed this weekend!

M - I - Z. . .

Z - O - U!!!!

[Grainbelt]

Went with a career in mind, and every intention of behaving myself.

When it was all done, I started what has become a great career, made lifelong friends, and drank waaaaay more than the recommended daily allowance.  Oh - I learned to love hockey.

GO GOPHERS!@@@

[Kasumi]

Over here your collage is our University. But just now im in my final year of high school. Il be 18 when i leave. But anywhos we have to start deciding what we are going to do when were leaving. Tonnes of people are going to university. Its just rediculous. Im not going on pure principle 1st and the fact school doesn't suit me second. I don't agree with the way the system is now. Everyone tells you you wont get employed unless you have a degree whereas most jobs don't ask for a degree. So everyone just goes to unversity wastes a tonne of money on tuition fees, housing, food, all that whilst not earning a penny (possibly they have part time job) just to get a degree for a job. I chose to not go, as well as my girlfriend and a few others i know on pure principle that we can prove we can get just as good-a-job without having to go. A few of my friends are moving onto payd work in accountancy firms doing apprenticeships and on the job training. I am heading to the air traffic control collage in bournemouth and my girlfriend is joining an estate agency as a trainee. Funnily enough we have had no support from school to apply to do these things whereas they said they would. The school is supporting those who want to go to university by helping them fill out the forms and get good applications written up.

Its a stupid system and basically you come out in debt without a guaranteed job having just spent years of your life there. Plus everyone goes and gets a degree relativly easily so surely having a degree is soon going to become not good enough. Everyone will have to have a phD next so they can prove they are better than all those people who can get degrees. I understand why people go, and everyone says its about the living away from home, meeting new people and just having a good time. If you are willing to put in the effort you don't need to go. And their are other ways of leaving the nest and making new friends.

[Turd Ferguson]

I was in KC all weekend and haven't even payed attention to what happened in the football game.  I'm not really into football.

-Turd.

[Turd Ferguson]

If you are willing to put in the effort you don't need to go.

This might be true in your line of work, but I am in mechanical engineering and you simply cannot get into the field and work your way up without the degree.  You can work your way up from being a shop manager or something like that, but you will never be a high level engineer without your PE license.

-Turd.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

If you are willing to put in the effort you don't need to go.

This might be true in your line of work, but I am in mechanical engineering and you simply cannot get into the field and work your way up without the degree.  You can work your way up from being a shop manager or something like that, but you will never be a high level engineer without your PE license.

-Turd.

+1

I'm a computer engineer. Try getting a high paying job with Microsoft or Intel or AMD without a college degree. Sure, Bill Gates did it with a high school degree. But I guarantee now he's gonna want the guys with degrees working for him. And college != debt. I'm in my second year and I've paid cash for everything by working construction jobs over the summer. That's another reason I'm in college. I got sick of working 12 hours a day 6 days a week just to make $1200 a week. I'd rather work 40-50 hours a week on my laptop and make $2K. Granted, I won't do that right out of college, but within a few years it's very doable.

[natedawg120]

basically i came to college cause i didn't want to work construction or in a mill of some sort for the rest of my life.  Didn't help that my parents didn't support me at all but then again that is why i moved out when i was 16 .  Computer Science is what I graduated with and I am still stuck in tech support land, all be it a good paying job though.  The job after this one i am either going to shoot for IT management or a programmer, we shall see...

[Egaeus]

and i plan on returning for architecture. heh im 31 now id be one of the few on campus able to buy alky legally

Just don't go hitting on the girls.  You don't want to be that creepy old guy. 

[pandy]

If I'd gone to college right after high school, the education likely would have been wasted. I put myself through college "later" in life. I always knew I'd go, but I wasn't sure when. I think a big part of the reason I went is precisely because a college degree is what a high school diploma used to be. I didn't want lack of education holding me back (and not just from making money....from earning a living at something I actually enjoy, too...something that's more than "just" a job). I also wanted to set a good example for my son.

I was very much involved with the education experience as a whole, and I met mostly others who were as involved, so I really didn't run into too much foolishness (and/or I avoided it  ). My "study buddies" ranged in age from 17 to 19 (with an occasional oldie in his/her early 20's), but I never felt weird, and the youngsters were very accepting of my oldster self. 

I enjoyed school, and I'd be a professional student if it paid better!