Eschew Obfuscation: College Experience

College Experience

Max Dunn — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 07:31:00 -0700

So what is the “college experience”?

This was a topic on this week’s O.C. that got me thinking that maybe some people had a much better experience in college than I did. Without going into too many details, here are some of the highlights of my Berkeley experience:

"College Experience" by Max Dunn

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:06:10 -0700

Some people were shocked about being dropped off on the sidewalk, but it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounded. During that week, I was staying in the dorms and then it was hoped that I would join a fraternity and be able to move in immediately afterwards—which is what happened.

"College Experience" by SC

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 18:13:50 -0700

Sounds kind of brutal. I’m glad you turned out ok :-)

I had at least one of the experiences you mentioned: I met my future wife my freshman year. Washington University was at the opposite end of the spectrum from Berkeley in a lot of ways, it sounds like. The school was much smaller, and while we didn’t have a lot of room for electives in the curriculum, we could take a pretty wide range of classes as our (few) electives. I also had a lot of flexibility to take graduate classes as an undergrad, so I could pursue whatever interested me.

I enjoyed my freshman year a lot (and it wasn’t all due to J, though I’m sure she contributed :-)). I liked being on my own, meeting new people, and learning new things. I liked it so much that I have a bias against the live-at-home-go-to-community -college-for-two-years approach that is popular in California.

I especially liked getting to redefine myself absent anyone else’s preconceived notions about who I was or what I was doing (not that I hated high school or my friends there, but I wasn’t in the “in” clique either). I don’t think I’d have had that experience at the University of Illinois where a lot of kids from my high school went.

When I thought about how I got there while I was in college, I realized that nobody had pushed me to go or not go. The most my mom did was move to a high school district where going to college was the norm, and visit the Washington University campus once during a vacation my junior year. In hindsight, I wish I’d known more when I was a freshman in high school, but thinking back I appreciate the lack of pressure – I created enough on my own.

Maybe it’s my nature to block out the bad stuff, but when I think back on the years I spent at Washington U, they are fond memories of the people and the institution.

"College Experience" by JR

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:11:26 -0700

Whether or not the “College Experience” is a time of great joy, it is what enables us to be the people we are today. I don’t look back at my own experiences at college with great affection, but my education has enabled me to do just about everthing good in my life: have a satisfying career, money to spare, met my wife, etc. I don’t think there were any specific life-changing events in school, but collectively they led me to where I am today. Could I have found equivalently satisfying opportunities through a different path? I don’t know, but I doubt it.