College Life: Expectations vs. Reality
Before you head into college, you're pumped: you hear the stories people tell you, the cool memories, the parties, the life that unfolds just like they do in movies. But then your first week starts, and... things are different, and not in a good way. Sound familiar? Here are 10 common lies you were probably told about college—and 10 harsh truths you'll quickly learn.
1. Everyone Knows What They're Doing
The first lie you might have heard about college is that everyone heading in already knows what they're doing. They have their major set, their classes worked out, and their next four years planned to the last detail. The worst part? This expectation also applies to you.
2. Your Professors Don't Care About You
You'll probably hear from your high school teachers telling you how, once you get into college, your professors won't care whether you succeed or fail. They won't be there to help you, so you'll be on your own. While this can be true, it often depends on which professors you get stuck with.
3. You'll Be Best Friends with Your Roommate
If you'll be living in campus residence, another lie you'll hear—beyond the one of people saying that living on campus is awesome—is that you'll make fast friends with your roommate. Heck, they'll even become your lifelong best friend. In truth, you might lose the lottery and get stuck with someone you can't stand, in a room type that wasn't your first choice.
4. You'll Make a Group of Lifelong Best Friends
You've seen the movies. Everyone finds their core group of best friends in college, and those are the people you end up spending the rest of your life with. But while that kind of perfect scenario is usually glamorized on big screens, it rarely ever works out that way at all.
5. You'll Find "the One"
Not only will you find your core group, people say, you'll also meet the one. And if you don't, you'll be alone forever. While this might come true for some, not everyone finds their perfect person in college. You might casually date around, fall in love only to realize it wasn't the right fit, or never get into a relationship at all.
6. You'll Have Everything Figured Out
Remember the lie about how everyone in college already has their life figured out? That expectation is also pushed onto you. Even if you don't go into your freshman year with everything worked out, you'll definitely have all the puzzle pieces in place by your senior year and know exactly what you'll do after graduation. Right? (Wrong.)
7. College Is Fun
Anybody who's been to college will know that this statement is complete baloney. You might hear anecdotes from your family, teachers, or older friends about their time in college, and those stories may have made the experience sound fun, but in reality? College is mostly rough, tough, and gruff.
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8. Frat Parties Are as Cool as the Movies
Movies always seem to paint fraternity parties as some grand, unforgettable experience you'll never get anywhere else, replete with a huge house, a giant backyard pool, hundreds of students, and all the cool, popular kids crammed into one space. If that's the image you head into college expecting, you'll be quickly met with disappointment. In real life, frat parties are about as mediocre as drinking booze in somebody's rundown basement.
9. Everybody Is Grouped in a Clique
Another lie you might have seen in movies is that college is basically a bigger high school, and there are still cliques—the nerds, the jocks, the popular kids—everywhere you go on campus. In truth, no one knows (or cares) about anyone outside of their own classes and friends.
10. It'll Be the Best Time of Your Life
College is often said to be the best time of your life. You'll make unforgettable memories, lifelong friends, maybe even meet the one. But honestly, even if this might be the case for some people, college isn't all that grand. For most, it's nothing special. It's just school.
Those are the most common lies you'll hear about college, but what about the actual cold-hard truths? Let's cover 10 harsh lessons you'll learn pretty quickly in college.
1. You'll Get Lost... A Lot
Unless your college is relatively small, you'll probably get lost on campus. In fact, you likely won't get the layout down until at least a month later, and even then, you might still not know all the buildings that exist. You might also be late to a lot of classes because you're confused about where everything is.
2. There's No Hand-Holding
Okay, so maybe the lie about professors not caring about you wasn't a lie at all... We're just kidding. Of course, it'll still depend on who you get, but it's not that your teachers don't want you to succeed, there just isn't any hand-holding. You'll quickly realize that if you need help, you need to reach out yourself and hold yourself accountable. Your professors aren't going to personally come up to you if you're struggling.
3. You Lose Touch with New Friends Quickly
It's not that you won't make friends at all in college. In fact, you might meet lots of new pals, only to lose touch with them after a semester ends. You might have thought that the classmate you hit it off with quickly in your first-year math class would become your best friend forever, but two years later, you barely remember what they look like. Things move fast in college, and unfortunately, people do, too.
4. You Might Hate Your Roommate
Everyone tells you stories about how your college roommate becomes your best friend, but no one tells you that you might actually not get along with them at all. It's mostly a matter of luck, and sometimes, you end up with someone who's the complete opposite of you and triggers all your pet peeves.
5. You'll Probably Gain Weight from Stress
Unfortunately, freshman 15 (the belief that you'll gain at least 15 pounds during your first year of college) is real for most people. It shouldn't be surprising, given the stress you'll face right from the get-go, juggling school and work, social life and mental health. It would be more of a shock if the stress didn't affect you.
6. You'll Be Pretty Broke
Another true stereotype is that college students are broke. Unless your family's well-off or you're receiving a full-ride scholarship with money to spare on the side, you'll most likely be living off junk food and instant noodles. You probably won't even be able to afford campus food most of the time.
7. You'll Probably Not Know What You're Doing Half of the Time
You might choose a major only to realize you don't like it, or have no idea what's happening in any of your classes. Heck, you might not even be sure what you'll do after graduation, and whether you'll even find a job related to the stuff you're learning. More often than not, you just pretend you know what you're doing.
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8. Campus Parties Are Just Okay
The parties you'll have on campus will likely not be as grand as the ones you'll see in movies, but they'll make for some cool memories nonetheless. You might honestly have more fun attending small get-togethers with close friends, or going party-hopping elsewhere, than limiting yourself to campus events.
9. It Might Be Hard to Make Friends, Let Alone Keep Them
Making friends is already hard, but what's even more difficult is keeping them. You'll probably meet new people every year, only to lose touch with them as soon as the classes you share are over. That's the sad truth about college. If nobody puts in the extra effort to continue reaching out, things just fizzle.
10. You Might Take Forever to Graduate
College, for most people, is supposed to last only four years, but not everyone follows the same timeline. If you change majors halfway through, you might need to take an extra year or two, and you might even think of heading back after graduation to continue your education. It differs from person to person.
