Whether you watched Animal House back in the day or Neighbors (starring Zac Efron and Seth Rogen) this decade, the fact of the matter is that the college experience is literally thrown in your face as the top tier commodity of American life. Compared to other countries, college does not have the same ring to it in the US. College has less to do with education and more to do with debauchery, fun, getting laid, and partying your brains out. College is synonymous with the rockstar lifestyle in college, especially if you went to a state school.
On paper, it definitely makes sense that this would be the case.
There is a time and place for everything, and it is college.
You’re 18, out of your parent’s house for the first time, on your own, around everyone else who is in the same situation, and getting out of your shell for the first time. College is THE coming out party for thousands if not millions of young people coming out of high school who want to be able to party hard and get it out of their system. In a lot of ways, it is all right there for the taking because of all that is available to you. You don’t have real “responsibilities” and you are around a lot of people without many responsibilities, as it would seem initially.
The reality is a lot different.
After talking to so many people fresh out of college in their twenties, I realized that the reality was different and was surprised to find the amount of people that missed out. In truth, most kids are not heading to college on their parents’ dime to have the college experience, in fact it is pretty fucking expensive. The “college experience” generally applies to the following people:
- Rich kids in general
- People in reputable Greek Life organizations (fraternities and sororities)
- People in easy social majors where having a social life is key
- Athletes
Outside of that group, most people do not end up having a “college experience” worth bragging about. For a lot of people, college usually comes and then it goes. Most people won’t get to party like some rich fraternity guy at a nice state school or some wealthy sorority girl at a private university. For most people, college is a lot of stress and not getting paid for it most of the times.
And it is real damn cliquish for the most part.
Most schools have strict cliques where you are either in or out. Within the first year, cliques are formed and at that point, you are either one of the cool kids who parties or one of the kids who gets left out. The social politics at your typical state school are more cut-throat than they are in high school, in fact popularity matters even more at your typical party school. Unlike the real world where a hot girl can go home with a guy she met out, in college she is shoved into her social clique and cannot risk the backlash of doing so.
So why the overpromotion of it being normal?
For one, if anyone tried to portray college as being what it is which is stressful, a lot of not getting paid, a lot of hard work if you pick a good enough major, and having to deal with the rich kids having all of the fun you cannot afford to have; it would be boring. The other reason is because it fucking sells, it sells to have college be the utopia for partying because that would make students want to consider it. Fact of the matter is that in today’s economy, you can get jobs and make good money with a college degree so a lot of people who go to school go to it for the experience. It is a lot easier to sell to an 18 year old the party life and sex as opposed to the countless tough assignments, sleepless nights, and stress.
So if you missed out, the ceiling is a lot higher afterward.
Even if you went to Arizona St, you’re likely to find hotter girls in a wealthy part of a major city. A lot of college girls go for older guys with the exception of rich sorority girls, then again those girls don’t even go for 99% of guys at their school. You can still date and fuck college girls well after college without an issue. Making friends is almost as easy after college if you move to the right city and run in the right circles. The parties after college can be just as great as they were in college.
In other words, money has a big say, it had a big say in your college experience and it had a big say in it afterwards.
I had good and bad experiences, especially when it came to living in a dorm for two years. (I wrote about one experience, called Demeaning dorm sex). But in general it was a good experience to go through, even with the bad stuff…not sure about the cliques in my case, but they definitely existed. I found highschool much, much worse…
I spent 18-22 in the military. We had better parties and better pay/benefits than a restaurant or work study program. I saw hotter women and had more fun. College experience? i was better off than a lot of the jaded 22 year old grads.
Wait, hotter women!?!?
Colombian chicks, no need for “Freshman 15”.
I forgot to mention, when I was deployed overseas, not the women in the military