Calling all collegians.

[töm]

Welcome, distinguished colleagues, guests, and free-dinner seekers.

<center>P<small>REAMBLE</small></center>

Through some cosmic misfortune, I am presently of the most worthless caste that exists in this damned nation. I am male, teenage, white, middle-classed, suburban, and packing to go off to University. While these all seem to be nice superficial qualities--and they are, of course--the sum result that one recieves when they are all thrown together can best be described as "scum of the earth" ("scoteth" for short).

My kind is loud, self-righteous, arrogant, simple-minded, reckless, and obsessed with alcohol, drugs, meaningless sex, and--as is apparent on many of their "interest" lists--"girls." (Which is for a whole other thread involving the inherent demeaning qualities of today's culture for both genders.) Not the best of company.

But, it seems... We are afforded the best. Fed to excess, stuffed with disposable income, and <i>handed</i> the chance for a brilliant education with hardly any strings attached. Set.

Now, I'm not excluding the female population from this. I just don't feel comfortable enough to critique that population since I'm a goddamned fucking gentleman. But I'll say that there are a bunch of dumb whores, too.

Excuse that last paragraph.


<center>T<small>HE</small> I<small>SSUE</small></center>

So my first days at University are just around the bend. I loved highschool. Now when I say that, I mean; I loved the learning that I did. I loved the teachers that I had, and the opportunies that were afforded to me in extracurricular areas. I did not like the students. Evar. They were immature and irritating, with the exception of a small handful. I understand that this is ordinary adolescent behaviour, but I find it quite... to be one of the most awful things that I ever did see saw.

Because they were immature. Because they were concerned with themselves at all times. Because they chased temporary pleasure over more quality... qualities.

I thought that going off to higher education might change that.

I hoped and prayed.

A few weeks ago, I got a letter asking me to participate in an online forum specially designated for the use of incoming freshman this summer. Well, I participated all right. And I can't say that I was not disturbed by what I saw. All of the threads are about immature frivolities such as drinking, "partying," and how everyone hates to read books.

Eventually it dawned on me that these kids were still highschoolers. In fact, that's true. They just graduated--or even have yet to graduate.

Or ... are they?


<center>T<small>HE</small> Q<small>UESTION</small></center>

Now for all of your wonderful people who have experienced the lifestyles of a liberal arts college, I ask something of you.

I come to college hoping for a mature atmosphere in which I can find composed people who know what is what. People I can hold actual conversations--nay--<i>discussions</i> with.

Is this just a pipe dream? If so, can you lend me more opium?

Is college high school 2? Am I doomed to be surrounded by the immature, constantly vomiting the entire content of their stomachs due to both bulemia <i>and</i> alcohol poisoning?


PLEASE COMFORT ME.

Thanks.


Love,
Tom

[reef]

yes college is basically high school part 2

unless you spend most of your time in the library then maybe you can find yourself some like-minded individuals or maybe in a few of your classes you can find them

but c'mon tom

tommy

thomas

everyone likes to party, even the elite sophisticates!

[Vile]

I wish I could comfort you, but I'm just a baffled as you seem to be.

That little snap about bulimia (and using it to suggest that it's the oh-so-immature white girl-thingtodo) doesn't seem called for. It has little to do with immaturity.

However, as a friend must- I will try my best and give you the only answer I know how to. "Maybe".

[reef]

what the

why the hell does vile get name doohickeys?!

[Vile]

Because I'm just the hight of groovitude.

[töm]

I didn't mean it as a snap, and definitely not a "girl" thing, I just meant that it's something very problematic and often found among that demographic.

THANKS FOR REASSURING ME REEF.

<i>i hate to party reef</i>.

i hate large groups of people. i like maybe. one, two. three people at the most. quiet. lovely.

[J.T. Wasabi]

What about having philosophical or political conversations while getting plastered?

I remember that happened a few times in college.

It's like high school... but smarter!

[töm]

i'm not getting much positive feed back. :(

maybe i should move out of this hemisphere.

[CSMatt]

I think it depends on the area and which college you attend, although I myself would like to know the answers to these questions as well.

[J.T. Wasabi]

You can always hang out with the Asians.

There usually pretty big sissies.

...

Or they're raver punks.

[töm]

asians like cars and anime.

out of the question.

[Vile]

Or you could come live with me. Atlantic Canada is pretty tame.

[J.T. Wasabi]

Vile, nothing you do is tame.


You're a renegade, Erin. A renegade!

[Takker]

Is college high school 2? Am I doomed to be surrounded by the immature, constantly vomiting the entire content of their stomachs due to both bulemia <i>and</i> alcohol poisoning?


PLEASE COMFORT ME.

Thanks.


Love,
Tomoh God, I hope not. I'm wishing for the same thing you are Tom. in theory, you would think that colleges accept smarter individuals, knocking out those straight F delinquents, but I suppose you can still get good grades and be a complete asshole too. so, unfortunately, you're still going to get the lazy jackasses that you had hoped to leave behind. but even so, you'll still probably manage to find new and intelligent people there as well.

[Vile]

Vile, nothing you do is tame.


You're a renegade, Erin. A renegade!


Right now I'm listening to whale songs!

<i> They sound like violins.</i>

[J.T. Wasabi]

What’s the difference between a Jew and a canoe?

A canoe tips.


OH!

[töm]

sorry again if i offended you, erin.

but is it true what they say? about that atlantic canadian hospitality? ;)oh God, I hope not. I'm wishing for the same thing you are Tom. in theory, you would think that colleges accept smarter individuals, knocking out those straight F delinquents, but I suppose you can still get good grades and be a complete asshole too. so, unfortunately, you're still going to get the lazy jackasses that you had hoped to leave behind. but even so, you'll still probably manage to find new and intelligent people there as well.at the end of the year, we recieve a list of all of the colleges that all of the students will be attending. all but about five of the students at my school will be going to college. (one is "employed," but only god knows how.) they're not all. you know. smrat.

my history teacher wanted to see the next year's set of statistics for all of the classes: # of gallons of beer consumed, and # of dropouts. i'd like to see that too.

[Vile]

It depends on who told you. If you read it on the internet then it is definitely true.

[reef]

THANKS FOR REASSURING ME REEF.

<i>i hate to party reef</i>.

i hate large groups of people. i like maybe. one, two. three people at the most. quiet. lovely.
well pal thems the breaks

unless you're going to harvard or yale but c'mon they party as well i mean look at our president! booze <i>and</i> coke!

actually at the higher universities you'd probably get more into drugs like coke than anything. coke is the drug for the upper calss sophisticate

[reef]

but seriously tom just because these people booze it up and whatnot does not mean that you won't like them

does not mean you won't be able to hold an intelligent conversation with them

does not mean that they're necessarily stupid

it's just how they get down. just cause they ain't as into reading and solitude as you are don't make 'em people you gotta avoid

[töm]

i know, reefy. it's just that by they way that they talk, they seem very much preoccupied with it. it's just irritating.

but seriously, what's up with all of the escapism in society?

[reef]

people just can't deal with shit i guess

i usually don't drink to escape, i drink to celebrate (safely i might add) buuuuut some people just think beer or weed or coke or prostitutes will take their troubles away

and they do!

just not permenantly and that's where it gets ya

that there's the hook

[Vile]

Sounds scary.

[töm]

oh, i trust you, reef. i trust you like the ground i walk on.

maybe i'm just angsty because i'm out of the loop? but i don't have troubles to be taken away.

it's not really the loop i want to be in anyway, though.

i don't know. there are a lot of things i don't undestand.

maybe i'll get a prostitue and we'll "just talk." see how that works out. though if she has no teeth, i'm not sure how that will pan out.

[CSMatt]

i don't have troubles to be taken away.
You are a very lucky man.

[töm]

i'll be the first to admit it.

[Vile]

oh, i trust you, reef. i trust you like the ground i walk on.

maybe i'm just angsty because i'm out of the loop? but i don't have troubles to be taken away.

it's not really the loop i want to be in anyway, though.

i don't know. there are a lot of things i don't undestand.

maybe i'll get a prostitue and we'll "just talk." see how that works out. though if she has no teeth, i'm not sure how that will pan out.


Maybe you can teach her to speak through tongue clicking.

[pussycat]

good thing I have low expectations!

[KLEIN]

Get a grip Holden.

Go call Phoebe or something.

[Ravenous Monkey]

It is High School 2. But somewhere it might not be, either in other (better?) colleges or in some corners of the college of your choice.

Though no one should generalise, it's all a mix. Or as reef said:

just because these people booze it up and whatnot does not mean that you won't like them

does not mean you won't be able to hold an intelligent conversation with them

does not mean that they're necessarily stupid

it's just how they get down. just cause they ain't as into reading and solitude as you are don't make 'em people you gotta avoid


Your experience might depend on your willingness to seek out your kind along with other factors.

I tried seeking, but failed. Participating in school clubs and hunting like-minded creatures didn't get me far, and I'm already a junior. Whatever idealised vision of college life I wanted to fulfill, in terms of learning what I wanted to learn, came through wandering in the school library and self-study. The rest has been mindless credit accumulation.


Still, you don't have to look for like-minded people, you could try new things without developing a drug addiction.


Anyway, I hope your experience is different. Just have fun. You might not end up with what you wanted, but take what you get anyway.

btw, which college are you going to?

[CSMatt]

I thought it was just during freshman and half of sophomore year that colleges made people take all of the standard courses.

[Shadowfox]

I come to college hoping for a mature atmosphere in which I can find composed people who know what is what. People I can hold actual conversations--nay--<i>discussions</i> with.

They do exist. They're not the majority but they are around. The program house I live in at Cornell is chock full of 'em but it has the benefit of allowing the people who live there to determine who gets in and being labelled as "that place where all the weird people live". However, I didn't know about said program house freshman year and only found two or three such people. And Cornell is enormous.

So. Y'know. Draw your own conclusions.

None of my college friends drink.

[MST3Kakalina]

i found plenty of like-minded people. (well, eight or nine, which is certainly more than i ever found in high school) yeah, some of the have a tendency to get smashed on weekends, but i never actually see them drunk (or hungover), so it's kinda like they don't do it, you know? and the rest of us just spend party nights playing D&D, so. =P

it wasn't really like high school 2: electric boogaloo for me. a LOT of partying went on, but it was pretty easy to avoid it. there are obnoxious jocks and whores wherever you go, but there are less of them at college (especially a liberal arts one), and more wacky <i>artiste</i> types. there were quite a bit of preppy, polo-playing elite types but i think that might be a Hamilton thing.


hey Fox. one of my friends has a brother who's transferring to Cornell next year. i imagine i might be taking a couple road trips the next two semesters, if'n you like =P

[Shadowfox]

Excellent.

I've got a room that's actually kind of big next year if you want to crash.

Whee! Intercollege party!

[Forever Finite]

from what i've seen of college (and the six week pre-cal cram course i audited) college is like high school, but people aren't as immature about their dumb preoccupation with the superficial. granted, still preoccupied. i hear that you can expect high school freshman year, but as you move into more advanced classes and the partiers drop out, you can be around more of the types of people that have goals and are motivated to work and learn and experience life.

[the Worms]

Well, I go to a liberal arts college also, and there are a few predominant categories that I see. There are those whose parents want them to go to a good college. These rarely get out of highschool mentality. There are those who go to college for sports. These never get out of highschool mentality. There are those who didn't know what else to do. These usually get out of highschool mentality. There are those who wanted to go. These will be your friends. At a moderately small school (which liberal arts schools usually are), the last category will be a significant one. At my school it is the dominant one. You need not worry.

[MST3Kakalina]

Excellent.

I've got a room that's actually kind of big next year if you want to crash.

Whee! Intercollege party!
pssst. will you have your GC? or will the evil fox sibling insist on keeping it at home? because i won't have mine. :(


i'll have my DreamCast, though. :)

[cyberen]

I think community college is a more mature environment, considering people of all ages go there. However, they might not care about your existence one tiny bit.

[Shadowfox]

pssst. will you have your GC? or will the evil fox sibling insist on keeping it at home? because i won't have mine. :(


i'll have my DreamCast, though. :)

I'll have to see about finagling it out there. We've been passing it back and forth whenever I have a vacation so I don't really know ahead of time when I'll have it. BUT. Finagling.

Also, even if I don't have the 'Cube I'll have <i>something</i>. In fact if I don't have that I'll probably have both the SNES and the N64 with me. So we'll certainly have something to do.

[MST3Kakalina]

SNES and N64 = :<3:

see T&ouml;m? this is what college is all about. video games and road trips.

[Shadowfox]

Mmyep!

Also there is laser tag in Ithaca.

[CSMatt]

Now that töm's question has been more or less answered, I'd like to ask mine:
How difficult is college compared to high school? I've had at least four different people tell me that it's a lot harder, but they're all teachers or others who would use the scare tactic as a motivator. I've had countless teachers tell me in the 8th grade that high school was going to be much harder than middle school, and I later found out that that wasn't true. So, I'm asking those of you with firsthand experience to enlighten me on the subject.

[MST3Kakalina]

it's different for every person in every class in every college.

for example, my computer science, french, philosophy and creative writing courses were all pretty easy. i got Bs in them without breaking a sweat.

my study of poetry and the novel courses were harder and i got Bs in them, not out of effort to do WELL, but out of effort required to get the work done.

my music class was kind of in between. it started out easy and got tougher, so i guess...an average of moderately difficult?

[implode]

i have not read all of this thread, and i'm not a collegian, but... i... talk.

i hate to party too, tom. just take comfort in the fact that you didn't come to this conclusion four years after you made friends that do, and will until the end of time. it's a terribly unpleasant feeling to be expected to be the life of the party while simultaneously wishing you could pull the plug on it.

[töm]

i've taken two courses at Fordham University over the past year... they were, for me, relatively easy. sure, they had more challenging aspects, but the very environment in a college classroom seems to put some work ethic into the students. highschool is like a madhouse as far as classroom atmosphere goes.

i think that the most challenging thing about college will be the scheduling. taking care of academics is easy peasy. but combine that with maintaining an active social life, extracurriculars, work study (for those who have it. like me. :\), and private time alone... it might get hairy. i think staying afloat is probably a big thing.

[Evasive]

hey tom,

as one that's graduated from college, i can say that your experience is going to depend on what you put into it.

you seem like an intelligent guy, and if you are really interested in learning / finding people that enjoy learning, then you will. you just got to look for them.

i went to a state school, and about 85% of my peers were drunk or high...but the other 15% were really passionate about what they were there for...and because of them, I ended up learning a lot / pushing myself to get better with my own studies.

so...don't worry about it. you'll find those that will stimulate your mind at college...with either books or drugs. have fun either way

[Invader Flak]

College has been high school 2 for me. That's cause I went the cheap route and went to a commuter campus. Still, I love the hours.

[tater]

Meh, I found my community college to be high school 2.5. It was ... the same social scene, sadly, but those who were interested in what they were learning had no trouble finding friends. I think the very nature of paying for your education makes the title of "nerd" obsolete. That would be the only difference I found.

As for courses, things are very much different for most people. College is freedom. That really throws a lot of people. Professors don't harp about assignments and rarely even mention homework. You're expected to keep track and hand things in when they are due. I was lucky if the Prof. bothered to remind you the day the assignment was due. Plus, the temptation of slacking off. You see, a prof. doesn't yell when you don't hand something in, they just give you a grade. Same with attendance. It's easy to just not go. There really aren't any immediate consequences like their are in high school. It's easy to screw up and not realize it until it's too late. Hence the amazing dropout rate of college freashmen.

[the Worms]

At my school, freshmen are disdained because they haven't yet been purified. Once you're a sophomore, you have stuck around an entire year and have been able to keep whatever scholarships you were given. Our freshmen retention rate, for example, is about 65%, with a 50% 5-year graduation rate. This means that your social troubles will generally smooth out after the first year.

[CSMatt]

Do other college students really make freshman go through a Fear Factor-like "initiation?"

[the Worms]

That's just fraternities, not the college as a whole. Those people choose to do that.

[Young Jeff Bridges]

i never really got frats. would someone like to explain to me what the importance of them is? are they just more focused high school cliques?

[töm]

they do lots community service and are positive influences on the area that they reside in. many people are into that.

[Davey Rootbeer]

Fraternities retain connections even after college is over.

If you were in a certain fraternity in college, and you're interviewing for a job, and your interviewer was in a chapter of that fraternity...the job is as good as yours.

This also applies to other things.

*CoughskullandbonesCough*

[MST3Kakalina]

no matter what they tell you, frats are all about getting smashed and weird hazing rituals. the community service is just a cover so they'll continue to get funding.

[Maz]

Dear Tom,

Please be assured that you were not the only one entering a collegiate education with the same high hopes and expatations, <I>as well</I> as a similar high school experience. Every educational institution has their brand of aspiring intellectuals, and their overwhelming number of dilligent insidious repulsive teenagers (whom we can call, quite surreptitiously, D.I.R.T.). THIS CANNOT BE HELPED.

I must say, though, I had some very nice experiences during my first semester. I joined the honors program, attended a few of their outings to D.C. and various museums, and enjoyed my fellow scholars' company. For my other classes, I chose to associate myself with the more school-oriented crowd and ignored the other party-goers and substance abusers. They make themselves quite obvious, so they aren't hard to spot. Generally I found myself more acquainted with the older 'moms' in my art classes, since they were the friendliest and most sociable of the lot. I also had the double benefit of having a lot of my friends from high school join me in the same university, although I won't say I didn't make any new friends since I've joined.

The main thing to do is keep yourself away from the bad crowd and surround yourself with the people you most enjoy. If you don't actually <I>enjoy</I> any of the D.I.R.T. that occupy the same square mile, you're best bet is to just join the French Mafia and earn your bread thataway. You're bound to find a friend before things get that sticky, though.

[töm]

dear world,

i have since met many people from my university that i quite like. i am more optomistic about this all than before. things are looking wonderful.

thank you for all of your responses, but especially mazzy's.

fondlingly,
tom

[Davey Rootbeer]

I made mazzy come back, so I get your thanks by proxy.


god, i love this job.

[CSMatt]

Dear world,

I will graduate high school in about a year, and am really nervous about what the future will bring. Please make me feel better about going to college.

CSMatt

[MST3Kakalina]

Dear CSMatt,

If you are able to graduate college/pass the G.E.D, then there are plenty of schools available to take you. Don't worry about making it in.

No matter where you go, there will be PLENTY of people to meet. Some will be cool. Some won't be.

Your professors will also be pretty chill, most likely. No one will hound you about projects or classwork, so it's up to you to get stuff done.

Other than that, I can't tell you.

--World

[when you are the moon]

P.S. -- unless you decide to go to an art college, in which case you should expect to have the life driven out of you, boot camp style, by instructors who are mainly concerned with "thinning out the field" so there are more jobs/gallery openings for them in the end.

Cordially,

World

[strawberry kiss]

I know I'm late, but tom I will protect you. I will bring you great company. I have a lot of friends on the southshore. I shall be visiting.

[töm]

that would be super awesome nice of you, ava. :<3:

[strawberry kiss]

I'm cool like that.

Not charity though. I really really wanna hang out with you.

[MST3Kakalina]

isn't he practically family anyway? i mean really.

[töm]

well, it's wunnerful. mi casa es su casa. (until 12:00PM on weeknights.) we don't really talk as much as i'd like to anyway. never just isn't enough!

[Maz]

P.S. -- unless you decide to go to an art college, in which case you should expect to have the life driven out of you, boot camp style, by instructors who are mainly concerned with "thinning out the field" so there are more jobs/gallery openings for them in the end.

Cordially,

World

WORD UP, AMI. for, if your professors are anything like MY professors, THEY NEED TO WEED THE COMPETITION to sell ANYTHING.

<SMALL>p.s.s. because they SUCK.</SMALL>

[rocketgal]

college to me is a wonderful place where you get to express yourself with likeminded people


also a place to LEARN


there is no greater thing than learning

[Invader Flak]

Art college? Harumph.

[when you are the moon]

Yes, art college. It's extremely difficult. What of it?

[Urchin]

P.S. -- unless you decide to go to an art college, in which case you should expect to have the life driven out of you, boot camp style, by instructors who are mainly concerned with "thinning out the field" so there are more jobs/gallery openings for them in the end.

Cordially,

World
ARRRRGGGHHHHH.

I had to choose CalArts, too. I could've gone to a regular college for a year, or at least an easier art college (like LCAD), but I had to jump directly into animation right out of high school. I think I will die.

[SLUM WIZZARD]

You're expected to keep track and hand things in when they are due. I was lucky if the Prof. bothered to remind you the day the assignment was due. Plus, the temptation of slacking off. You see, a prof. doesn't yell when you don't hand something in, they just give you a grade. Same with attendance. It's easy to just not go. There really aren't any immediate consequences like their are in high school. It's easy to screw up and not realize it until it's too late
I was feeling happy and positive untill I read this. People are my calendar...

20 cool points for the heads up.
(I have some shit to iron out...)

[rocketgal]

Yes, art college. It's extremely difficult. What of it?


and how! never will your creativity feel so raped.


not that i was really in an art college...i suppose

[when you are the moon]

and how! never will your creativity feel so raped.


not that i was really in an art college...i suppose
If by "art college" you mean "fine arts college", then neither have I. Although there is a fine arts department here, but those folks have their own building and can't be arsed to sully themselves by associating with us "commercial artists".

I don't know about that creativity rape thing; I feel like that's a fairly renewable resource, creativity. I was referring to the fact that the workload is like trying to hold down two full-time jobs at once. That, and creative growth of any kind is just physically and mentally exhausting, but you really have to keep running forward or you're fucked.