Back from My First College experience

[Chris Sanders MSX]

Well you may have not noticed it but from Friday Night until Early Sunday Morning I was not around this parts. Instead I was in Virgina. To be specific I was at West Virgian State College, basically getting the whole college experience sans the classes.

My 2 friends and I came during the Home Coming Weekend, we got stay in a dorm. Which was kinda cool within itself, the only problem I really had was after the HomeComing dance guys were trying to get females back in there rooms and security was being really bad about it. Not that it stopped anyone, I saw guys pulling girls in from the front window.

With what I saw going on, you'd think that these people had no classes on Monday. I saw liquor getting brought into almost every room, A girl that gave my friends and I an unexpected tour told us that this school has atleast 5 parties a week.. And i was advised to only attend atleast 2...If I wanted to pass.

We went to 7 parties in the span of 2 days. Wild stuff. We got
asked to drinka nd smoke but we avoided it. Mostly cause 2 of us don't do that and the good kind of peer preassure set in. I don't want to talk about the girls, cause it'll get graphic but it was good.. Things are WAY too easy in college.

I was worried that after all this fun was up that the scholastics would be a problem but I was assured by quite a few people that If I take notes and read..I'd have no problem. I'm still keeping my options open for another college..and i'm going back during Spering Break to check out things during a less wilder time but my God did I have the time of my life.

I swear to you I don't want to go back to High School now. I hate High school completely now. My new objective is to get out of this palce as fasta s possible. In short to quote JC, "College Rules".

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Chris Sanders MSX


We went to 7 parties in the span of 2 days. Wild stuff. We got
asked to drinka nd smoke but we avoided it. Mostly cause 2 of us don't do that and the good kind of peer preassure set in. I don't want to talk about the girls, cause it'll get graphic but it was good.. Things are WAY too easy in college.



I haven't come across any of these "party animal" colleges in my experiences. Must be a Canadian thing. Or maybe I've been looking around too many universities and not enough colleges.

[JohnCrichton]

Partying definately ruled, full on. Wish I'd know what I was going to school for and had a plan at the time.

Now that I'm in the work force, the temptation of earning more money, raises, and promotions are out there and make it hard to decide to go back to being poor and finishing out a degree.

So, party your young heart away, but make sure you find out what you're going to school for!

Glad you had fun, MSX!

Chicks in college........ fuhgetaboutit! *insert evil grin here*

[Weatherman]

We went to 7 parties in the span of 2 days. Wild stuff. We got
asked to drinka nd smoke but we avoided it. Mostly cause 2 of us don't do that and the good kind of peer preassure set in. I don't want to talk about the girls, cause it'll get graphic but it was good.. Things are WAY too easy in college


Uhh, wha? I guess that would depend on the crowd you're running with. What rating are talking about if you were filming this?

[Chris Sanders MSX]

So, party your young heart away, but make sure you find out what you're going to school for!
I definetly have a goal. I already know what I'm going to school for. My Plan really is to go to this college for my first 2 years and have fun before the serious stuff kicks off, and then transfer out to an Art College here in Illinois that has a rate of 97% of students that get jobs in there major feild of study, because the school has connections all over the place from Coke Bottling Company to Marvel Comics.

But thing is I want a scholarship and my GPA's going to need a short shot in the arm.



I haven't come across any of these "party animal" colleges in my experiences. Must be a Canadian thing. Or maybe I've been looking around too many universities and not enough colleges.

I was really thinking it was like this because it's home coming weekend but after talking with the girl with the crazy hair, there's like atleast 3 parties a week at this school. I wasn't really looking for a "party school", which is why I'm going to call up to the school and see where they stand compared to other school's I'm considering.


Uhh, wha? I guess that would depend on the crowd you're running with. What rating are talking about if you were filming this?

Definetly R, nothing really raunchy but it's not like you could show it on network televison.

[Barb Gordon]

That sounds like the last college I would ever want to go to. I'm sorry but, if you want to party, then don't go to college, you're just wasting money and people's time. If you have a goal, good for you, stick with it. If it's an important one, going to parties and drinking, I wont even get into being underaged, isn't going to help you one single bit. I don't live in the dorms at my college, but our newspaper always reports on the incidents that happen in them. We get college security and even the local cops coming right away when liquor or drugs are found being used on the campus. I'm proud that they're so on top of it, then again, you have to pay at least $30,000 to go to my school, so you'd really have to be a fool to want to waste your time mostly partying when you should be working towards BA, Masters or PH.D and thinking about your future career.

~Barb

[Weatherman]

Chris, how is that any different from an average day wandering around school. :p Well, have a good time at school when you get there. Where in Viriginia is this place located?

[BLACKHEART]

Barb you kill me :) Listen to her she is an Oracle afterall

[Dark Spider]

Heh, I went to a college over the weekend myself, MSX...and I'll tell you guys all about it when I get the chance.

As for your weekend MSX, you sounded like you had real fun. But it doesn't look like the kind of party I would like to go to. I'm not the partying type of person, and this college seems like the one from those "Girls Gone Wild" videos you see on commercials late night.

[Chris Sanders MSX]

You know DS, that's exactly what I was thinking.

I'm like allergic to all types of smoke, every time someone smokes around me I get sick so I wasn't really hyped about going to some of those parties, and until we went into the hallway's I wasn't really having that much fun. Drinking and crap isn't my bag buts till I ahd a good time and i think it'd be interesting if that went down every week.

As my mother rarely let's me do anything as of late.

Still my main college is still WMU which is almost the opposite of this. I'm going to check it out sometime next week. Then I guess I'll amke my final decison.

Barb I was wondering what's the atmosphere like at your college ? I mean do they have parties every week, and stuff like that cause i was seriously under the impression that "all" colleges were like that.

[Clayface]

Just about every college (in the US at least) has parties all the time - most have them weekdays and weekends. Heck, I went to a tiny little private college - one that prided itself on being "dry", and teaching high moral standards, and even we had those sorts of parties. They exist on all campuses - its up to you how much and how often you want to be involved in them. You just have to be sure to keep yourself focused on your studies, and get the work done that needs to be done. As long as you remember that the reason you're going to college (and paying so much money) is to get an education, and you take that seriously, you'll be fine. Of course, you can't spend your entire college career locked up in your dorm room doing nothing but studying either - I can't tell you how many of my friends burned themselves out that way - many of them ending up not even going into the careers they studied for because they were so burnt out by the end of their college years. "Moderation in all things." Its a great motto to have both in life and in college.

[Barb Gordon]

Oh yeah, no doubt colleges have parties all the time but a)if they're smart they'll have them off campus b) they'll do it anyway and not get caught and c) I have yet to feel like going to any. I mean, every time our school newspaper comes out, there is a listing for a kid getting caught smoking or drinking. So obviously they keep doing it and having fun, it's just a natural part of college. But my school just keeps it...more underwraps. Not necessarily toned down, but well, we certainly aren't known as a "party college", but we've got kids drinkings and doing drugs, no doubt. For me, I don't have a problem because I find all alcohol gross, and smoke makes me gag. I was hanging around with a classmate waiting for my mom to pick me up cause I had woken up late, and the girl and her friend started smoking. So I was talking to them and all, not breathing in as much and swiping at the air a few times. When my mom came back I practically lept into the car and started coughing and trying to rid myself of the smell. Our college is more about studying and getting ahead, whereas for example, San Diego University is known as being a party school. Not to say people don't study there as well, but it's a known fact that if you're going there, there are parties and trips down to Mexico.

~Barb

[Clayface]

Personally, I can't stand smoke either: I used to be allergic to it when I was younger, and that tendency to avoid thick smoke filled rooms has stuck with me ever since. But, you can still go to parties and have a great time, and avoid that sort of thing.

Yeah, there's definitely a difference in the general daily atmosphere between a "party" school and a university that takes things more seriously. Like I said, I went to a small private university, and there things were a bit more "conservative". Right down the street we had a major state school, and that place, in general, had a more "party school" atmosphere to it. Different outlooks on priorities existed at the two unversities, but parties at both were very similar. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, just because they have wild parties (or frequent parties), doesn't make them a "party school", and it doesn't mean that they're a bad school scholastically.

[Failure]

Chris, it's good to keep in mind, eventually you'll outgrow those parties (eg. frat parties, big parties). Freshmen year you'll have a lot of fun, cuz they're new and exciting. Once the shininess wears off, it gets boring... quick. Then you'll just have little shindigs with your friends, cuz college is clique-y, even moreso than high school. So I'd go with the college that's best for you, I wouldn't recommend the trasnferring after 2 years thing, cuz when it comes to having fun, you'll always have options wherever you go.

[Clayface]

Originally posted by Failure
Chris, it's good to keep in mind, eventually you'll outgrow those parties (eg. frat parties, big parties). Freshmen year you'll have a lot of fun, cuz they're new and exciting. Once the shininess wears off, it gets boring... quick.



A very good point, though it doesn't always wear off for people in the first year - I knew plenty of people that continued to enjoy it into their third or fourth year (and several that never grew out of it :rolleyes: ). For me, it started to lose its shine by about the middle of the 2nd year - by then I had been to plenty of parties, so there wasn't much new to it, and I was really starting to get serious about my education, and my classes were getting more serious as well.



Then you'll just have little shindigs with your friends, cuz college is clique-y, even moreso than high school.



Well, i think that really depends on the type of college you go to. At the larger schools, I think the clique thing can happen more commonly, but at smaller schools I don't see that as much. At my university, most everyone knew everyone else, and there weren't a lot of well-defined cliques - absolutely nothing at all as bad as what we had in my high-school. In fact, I found college very liberating for exactly that reason - what few cliques did exist weren't a large factor in life there at all.

[TimTwoFace]

Hey Chris, I'm glad you had fun while your first college experience lasted. :) I never really got into the "party-atmosphere" of my university because the place was just so big (like 30,000 students) and there were so many parties going on each weekend at the various fraternities and sororities. Looking back, I wish I kinda dabbled in it, just to experience it, but, being the putz I am, I just focused on my studies, my job, and my other buddies that didn't go for the party atmosphere. :p

So hey - I still say go enjoy yourself, but don't let it ruin your studies or anything. I never understood how so many people go to school and throw all that away in their first few years, take advantage of their new independent status, and just party all day. A little bit is fine, but non-stop? Hmmmm.

*PONDERS FOR A MOMENT*

Well, I for one am now in the mood to go watch REVENGE OF THE NERDS. I'll catch ya'll later. :)

-Tim
(Uber-Nerd)

[Failure]

Originally posted by Clayface


Well, i think that really depends on the type of college you go to. At the larger schools, I think the clique thing can happen more commonly, but at smaller schools I don't see that as much. At my university, most everyone knew everyone else, and there weren't a lot of well-defined cliques - absolutely nothing at all as bad as what we had in my high-school. In fact, I found college very liberating for exactly that reason - what few cliques did exist weren't a large factor in life there at all.
[/B]

That's pretty cool. It would be nice if my school was as close as a smaller school, but with our numbers that would just be impossible.

The thing with the cliques here though, is that it isn't necessarily like you got the geeks, the freaks, the jocks, etc. It's just more like the people you make a genuine connection early on tend to be the people you hang out more often with. There's so many people at my school that if you tried to spread yourself out, it can be kinda difficult. Of course, I'm sure there's plenty of people at my school that bob and weave seamlessly among many cliques, but personally I'm a kind of person who likes having a few friends I can trust and are really close with, rather than having a bunch of friends that are so-so.

[Kaner]

I'm glad you had a fun time Chris. Most schools have a party atmosphere, but it's up to you to decide how much you want to envolve yourself in it. My school worked under the old adage of "work hard, play hard." Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

a) Just because a school is know for partying alot, it doesn't mean they are poor scholastically.

b) College/University is all about time management. Most of your classes can be scheduled after 10 ( in some cases noon) and you will probably be able to keep your fridays open if you don't have any labs. This will give you time to study, party, or just relax. This will keep you from going crazy.

c) All things in moderation.

d) Don't take things too seriously. A poor mark on an exam or paper isn't the end of the world. There are suicides at every school every year.

e) Not all of your education will take place in class rooms. College is also a lesson in living on your own, taking care of yourself, and having to deal with people much different from yourself on an around the clock basis.

Anywho, I hope you have alot of fun at school.

-jerkbox

[JohnCrichton]

Sheesh, Barb... don't be a fuddy duddy. It is possible to do both and I highly encourage it.

There's a difference between being one of those burn-out blokes who never goes to glass and drinks every night and the student who enjoys his weekends, but pounds the books still.

All I know is that my friends that went on to graduate college and that partied hard too, have a wealth of hilarious memories to look back on, and the ones who only stuck to the books regret and sign saying, "Eh... I never really did much else than get my degree."

Education's important, but so's enjoying life while you do it.


A very good point, though it doesn't always wear off for people in the first year - I knew plenty of people that continued to enjoy it into their third or fourth year (and several that never grew out of it ). For me, it started to lose its shine by about the middle of the 2nd year - by then I had been to plenty of parties, so there wasn't much new to it, and I was really starting to get serious about my education, and my classes were getting more serious as well.


Frats and raging house parties wore out for me... beginning of the third year. Tried to go and they just.... sucked. Couldn't stand it, since I was turning in to an old man. Glad I had it while it lasted tho. :D

I dig the rage ever several months, once in a while, but now.... bars are cool by me.... so long as the music's not too loud. :p

[Captain Yurika]

Originally posted by JohnCrichton
Sheesh, Barb... don't be a fuddy duddy. It is possible to do both and I highly encourage it.

There's a difference between being one of those burn-out blokes who never goes to glass and drinks every night and the student who enjoys his weekends, but pounds the books still.

All I know is that my friends that went on to graduate college and that partied hard too, have a wealth of hilarious memories to look back on, and the ones who only stuck to the books regret and sign saying, "Eh... I never really did much else than get my degree."

Education's important, but so's enjoying life while you do it.




Frightenly enough...I have to agree. Except for the Fuddy-duddy remark. :p

[zmanjz]

As one of those people who have no reaction to alcohol, the idea of sitting arround drinking had very little appeal to me during college. (Don't get me wrong, I love Mike's Hard Lemonaide, but why someone would willingly drink that bitter swill they call beer... whatever.)

The idea of wanting to get drunk is just foreign to me. My idea of a good time is unleashing a hail of paintballs upon an opposing team.

Or a good night of low-stakes student poker. (5 card draw, Guts (my favorite card game), screw-your-neighbor, Queen and what Follows, Give & Take, Midnight Baseball, Seven Twenty-Seven, and others)

I dunno, I did the strip-club thing, and the bar thing, and the frat party thing, but they just bored me.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I hate small talk (which is what most parties are.)

[Psilon]

...

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Psilon2011
I think it depends on what school u go to and what program u enter...

For example, my school engineering and math is killer. The stuff gets harder and harder. Its absolute hell...

So the people who party either better be geniuses or the most organised people in existence.

Then again, my frosh leader had this to say

"Waterloo (the name of my college) can be the worst 5 years of your life or the best 7"

You go to Waterloo? Cool. Did you catch the Raptor intrasquad game in the gym on Saturday? Or are you not a basketball fan?

[Psilon]

well I had the choice of going to the raptors or watch a whole full day of anime in our local anime club....I chose anime

but I'm paying for it...man I have so much work...I wasted a full day and I'm really behind :(

[panther3751]

i have to study for a chemistry test, and here i am looking and posting at anime sites. . . . . . . -_-;;