Does anyone else miss college (after graduation)?
By greysfreak
@greysfreak (1384)
United States
June 23, 2008 11:11pm CST
It's kinda hard to believe it, but I actually miss college. I graduated in December 2007. I actually find myself looking for stuff to read about online and if I had the money I would probably buy textbooks! I don't miss the general education classes, I miss psychology classes and using my brain.
The crazier thing is, I have been getting very interested in human sciences and medicine and stuff. I've actually been looking up programs, and I think eventually I want to go back to school to become a Surgical Technologist.
The weird part of all this is, when I took general biology oh man.. 4 or so years ago I hated it.. well, not all of it, mostly the stuff about butterfly and plant anatomy. LOL Not that those are bad things to know about, I just couldn't understand it, and now I think it's because I didn't see the point in taking bio, I wasn't going to use it, and now I kinda wish I would have tried harder and maybe went on to take Anatomy and Physiology and Pathophys. I took Nutrition in the bio department as a required science and I did really good in that, actually, I did better than people I knew who were nursing and science majors. So that leads me to believe that maybe I am better with science than I've been giving myself credit for all these years.
Anyway, my point was, I really miss school and I'm feeling like I wish I had done things differently. Don't get me wrong, I was FAR from a party animal. I didn't even have many friends in college, and when I was there I think that's what made me hate it, I hated the social anxiety and the fact that it was so hard for me to make friends. Ironically, now I am not in school, I live 13-14 hours from my closest friend since I moved, and I am lonelier than ever. Needless to say, I'd love to be back there now with the 1 or 2 people I talked to from classes, and I'd love to be back there learning, and feel like I'm doing something important.
Does anyone else have any of these feelings? Wishing you were back in school, or that you had done things differently?
2 people like this
5 responses
@fafinette79 (943)
• United States
24 Jun 08
Currently, I'm still in college but taking classes online. I don't miss the college lifestyle. I saw now purpose in partying all week, pledging in a sorority, or going to games. I'm pretty sure I will miss college once I graduate, but right now I just want it to be over with as soon as possible. It takes up so much of my time.
2 people like this
@greysfreak (1384)
• United States
24 Jun 08
ahh.. yea, I wasn't too into the college lifestyle. I was around it obviously, but my last year and a half I was in a single room (thank god.. LOL) I do feel like I missed out on a lot because I am so shy and socially awkward, but I also tend to have interests a bit younger than most college students, even though my last few years I was on the older end of students (graduated at 24).
Throughout my college years I was always so anti-sorority (none of this is meant to offend anyone in a sorority, it's just my experience. LOL), but at the same time I longed to try it, but I was always like, why bother, they won't take me anyway. I did go to some interest meetings, and I even went out to pledge events, but I didn't make it to the last "round" or pledge. I think it was probably because I would have only been there for 2 semesters, but there is still a part of my mind that tells me that something must be wrong with my personality and nobody likes me. I prefer to think it's the less negative side though. LOL Although, my last semester I went back to my very negative view of sororities. LOL I met some nice girls, and I have nothing against them, but it's the elitist part that bothers me I guess. I just have to tell myself that I have talents and will make it just a far in life or further than some of those who were popular in college.
LOL I know what you mean though, when I was in college I wanted it to be over so badly! It's weird how it works. With me, I am supposed in the process of working on my music career, but since we moved and have our house to sell and a trailer at the beach to sell, the money isn't there for me to take lessons and record more songs. So I am in a major rut and all I have is time really, so classes would definitely be a nice change. LOL
1 person likes this
@fafinette79 (943)
• United States
24 Jun 08
I'm the complete opposite, but I'm older. I had my daughter at a young age so I had to drop out for a few years to take care of her and get us straight. Now, I'm married and have the time to go to school, but my hubby is military so the best thing for me is to take online classes. I would've pledged a sorority and probably had been in many clubs because I'm such a people person, but life just didn't go that way. Right now I'm just happy to have such a loving and supportive husband that lets me work only part-time so that I can put more of my time into my schooling.
I don't see myself finishing with school anytime soon. After my bachelor's degree, I will probably go into my master's degree. I'm not sure if I will take a break inbetween....it all depends on how I feel. I don't miss going to an actually class, but I'm sure I will miss the aspect of learning. For me to be a professor at a college, it is best for me to have a graduate degree.
1 person likes this
@carrotcake14 (361)
• Philippines
24 Jun 08
I also feel the same way. I miss my friends from college since we rarely hangout together because our work schedules are different. I miss being caught by our professor when I tried to cheat at my classmate, I miss all the fun when I was still studying.
2 people like this
@greysfreak (1384)
• United States
24 Jun 08
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only person who misses college! LOL I was starting to think I was just weird.
1 person likes this
@Annie2 (594)
• United States
25 Jun 08
Hello! Just because you have graduated doesn't mean you have to stop does it? What about a Masters, a PhD? A 2nd Major? Something?
It is hard for young people to know for sure what they want to do with their lives right out of high school, and sometimes during college. As they continue to mature and life shows them new things along the way, they may find that they never really wanted to be a (whatever) after all. There is nothing wrong with that. It happens.
Go back to school! When you are more mature and know what you want, you will be more likely to go after it and do a better job. One piece of advice: Don't go back to college just because you miss your friends and the social aspect of it. You can get a job and socialize at work! Go back because you know what you want in life and you need to get more education to do what you have found is your passion.
Learning IS lifelong!
@greysfreak (1384)
• United States
25 Jun 08
I definitely have thought of that. I will never rule out the possibility of going back to college. And I definitely wouldn't go back for the social aspect. Actually, If I had it my way I would have done college online, but my dad is really weird about online college, he always thought it wasn't the same as regular college. I know that's not the case, but he was paying, so I couldn't really complain. I think I would strongly consider online college if I go back, as long as I could find a program that had what I wanted. But I am leaning more towards technical college. But that's not an option till I can afford it.
And I agree, learning is lifelong. I still try to read about stuff that interests me, like psychology, which was a part of what I studied in college, and I've found that I am really interested in human sciences as well.
1 person likes this
@Annie2 (594)
• United States
26 Jun 08
Hi, I am taking my courses through distance learning which is different than online. You do the work at your own pace (within the semester, of course) and some work is emailed to instructors and some is snail-mailed.
There is a great deal of writing and thought that goes into these courses and it is very hard to do it this way. You have to be very self-disciplined.
Some companies actually look upon distance learning as a positive thing because they know it takes someone who is self-driven to accomplish a degree this way. Others think of it as just a "correspondence" course.
Another positive factor, you don't have to memorize things for tests and then just forget it after. That's a bonus for older folks for sure. You learn so much because of reading, researching, thought processing, writing, etc. Of course, teaching and some other things still have to have internships.
A positive thing is that you can do this in your own time. . . so you can hold a part-time or even full-time job . . . raise children . . . etc. You don't have to be on campus every day. Only once per semester! (--at least at the college I go to. Some may not require you to ever set foot on campus.)
I hope you go back some day when the time is right for you. There is much to learn in your reading, on-the-job, and in life in general. Best of luck to you!
