Is The College Experience Overrated?

Growing up, my parents would always tell me about their wild college experiences and how, despite some challenges, they loved the memories they made while at school. As a graduating senior in my last quarter in college, it got me reflecting on my “college experience” and how it was really different than I would have imagined it when I was younger. Although I went to a four-year university that many people would describe as having the “traditional college experience,” I discovered early on that this “college experience” that everyone talked about growing up was not all that it lived up to be.

In TV shows and movies, like Greek, the typical “college experience” is shown as joining a sorority or fraternity, drinking and partying all the time, hooking up, going to sports games, and making lifelong friends. Since these images were constantly thrown in my face, I grew up thinking that’s what my college experience had to look like. Although I did apply to some smaller liberal arts colleges, my top choices were both giant universities that had all of these elements of the traditional college experience.

Once I eventually did start college at one of these larger universities, I hated it to begin with. I attempted to try to “fit in” to what I felt like who I had to be in college. I joined a sorority and partied and drank all the time. Although to most people from the outside it would look like I was having the time of my life at college, in reality, I was completely miserable. I was burnt out from going out all the time and the friends I did make only seemed to want to party with me. I felt incredibly alone and I even called my parents crying several times, saying that I wanted to transfer. I realized that going out and partying all the time, just wasn’t what I really wanted to do.

After I made that realization that I wanted to stop partying all the time and instead try to fill my time with other things I love doing, like writing and yoga, my “college experience” drastically shifted. I made amazing friends that accepted me for who I am and joined clubs that inspired me and made me into a better person. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret any of my past experiences, they helped me grow, however, those are not the experiences that defined my own college experience. Society puts so much pressure on the younger generations to have this traditional “college experience,” but they fail to realize that that “experience” isn’t for everyone. People can have their own college experiences that are just as meaningful without engaging in any of the stereotypical college activities. Your college experience is what you make of it. There shouldn’t be any expectations of what you have to do. Ignore what social media and TV shows tell you about college. Yes, for some people college could look like the “traditional college experience,” but for others, it could mean something completely different. We, as a society, don’t need to pressure people to follow a certain path of what college should look like. At the end of the day, college is so much more than going to parties and drinking all the time; it is a period of growth and learning about who you are.

To anyone about to start college, just remember to stay true to yourself and your values. If you want to party all the time, by all means, go do that. But, if you’re like me and just can’t see yourself fitting into the traditional mold of the “college experience, that’s perfectly okay. Do things that you’re passionate about and that make you happy. Ultimately, those experiences in following your heart and who you are will leave you with the best memories that you will cherish for a lifetime.