How would you rate your college experience?

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I have few complaints about my time as an undergrad, all three years of it. This could be because it seems like such a long time ago. The courses where stressful, but probably because I was trying to cram in two majors and still graduate in three years. The professors were surprisingly supportive and made an effort to get to know me, considering the size of the school (Yale).

The most stressful part was the cost of attending. Tuition was paid by scholarships but I had to pay for supplies, books, housing, and meals myself, since my parents weren’t able to contribute.
 
I voted “overrated”. I went to an “Ivy League” college (in the late 1970s), primarily for the academics and for all the extras that were offered. My mother who graduated from college in the early 1950s used to tell me how it would be the “best years of my life”. Well, in the late 1970s, an Ivy League liberal arts college was LIBERAL!!! And I was a nice Catholic girl. Oh my goodness, what a shock! I was horrified by the sex and the drugs and the homosexuality and the general licentiousness. So I basically kept my nose to the grindstone, focused on my studies, did well, and graduated with high honors, went to graduate school, had a great career, met and married a wonderful Catholic guy. So all’s well that ends well. College turned out to be a good lesson in persevering, focusing on the goal, and making the best out of a less than perfect situation. Good lessons for life. For what it is worth, that’s my :twocents:
 
Like you, I went to college in the 70’s and found it very liberal, especially because I had started out in the art field. Many in the art field thrive on being anti-establishment and very different. It didn’t take me long to change fields and decide that art would be a hobby instead.
I did not go to Ivy Leaque schools but a private “Christian” school. That was interesting because I had not been raised in any faith at the time and had nothing to compare it to. It’s been a long journey to Catholicism.
La Chiara:
I voted “overrated”. I went to an “Ivy League” college (in the late 1970s), primarily for the academics and for all the extras that were offered. My mother who graduated from college in the early 1950s used to tell me how it would be the “best years of my life”. Well, in the late 1970s, an Ivy League liberal arts college was LIBERAL!!! And I was a nice Catholic girl. Oh my goodness, what a shock! I was horrified by the sex and the drugs and the homosexuality and the general licentiousness. So I basically kept my nose to the grindstone, focused on my studies, did well, and graduated with high honors, went to graduate school, had a great career, met and married a wonderful Catholic guy. So all’s well that ends well. College turned out to be a good lesson in persevering, focusing on the goal, and making the best out of a less than perfect situation. Good lessons for life. For what it is worth, that’s my :twocents:
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I went to the University of Pittsburgh where I recieved four years of communist indoctrination by leftist professors. Its alway good to study the other side from within though.

As far as my non-academic life, I enjoyed it very much and I made my closest friends in college.
 
Originally Quoted by pittsburghjeff:
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I went to the University of Pittsburgh where I recieved four years of communist indoctrination by leftist professors. Its alway good to study the other side from within though.
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As far as my non-academic life, I enjoyed it very much and I made my closest friends in college.
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My sister is going there next fall!!! :eek:

I’ll have to warn her 🙂
 
La Chiara:
I voted “overrated”. I went to an “Ivy League” college (in the late 1970s), primarily for the academics and for all the extras that were offered. My mother who graduated from college in the early 1950s used to tell me how it would be the “best years of my life”. Well, in the late 1970s, an Ivy League liberal arts college was LIBERAL!!! ::snip::
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Not all of them were. I went to a liberal arts “Ivy League” college in the late 70’s/very early 80’s. It wasn’t nearly as “liberal” politically and socially as I had expected it to be. The professors were no where near as “leftist” as those I’ve heard about from colleagues who attended public or private universities during the same time period. Same goes with the drinking, drugs, etc, behaviors.
 
La Chiara:
So all’s well that ends well. College turned out to be a good lesson in persevering, focusing on the goal, and making the best out of a less than perfect situation. Good lessons for life. For what it is worth, that’s my :twocents:
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That was my conclusion as well. College helped me work toward and realize I could achieve a goal and that it took a lot of dedication and hard work.

I honestly didn’t feel there was much ‘politicking’ on campus but I went to an urban “commuter” university so it was a very very different experience than my friends who went to state U’s with dorms and sororities and that sort of thing. At the time the average age student was 27 versus 19 at the other schools. Many students were married, with kids, jobs, etc. So school wasn’t FUN but I wasn’t there to have fun, I was there to get a degree so I could get a job afterward.

I am horrified by the way colleges have become bastions of liberal propaganda. I just don’t remember this EVER being an issue. I don’t recall any of my professors talking about politics or “liberal vs conservative” or anything on those lines. OTOH I was in the business program and maybe it wasn’t as much an issue as in liberal arts.

Since then I have taken some classes in non-profit management and I do see politics creeping into lectures and class discussions. Not to mention having to sit through a student presentation on NARAL that made me quite ill. So I am quite sure this is what is happening now. Ugh! I’m glad college is something that I already went through.

Lisa N
 
I loved my college times. I voted best time of my life because I never really had anything but great experiences there. The next choice down seemed like too big a difference between super great and great with problems.

Since best means nothing can top it, then that is where I have a slight problem. As a hopeful person in Christ, I am set on being content where I am and praying for God to bless me abundantly.
I have really enjoyed each phase of my life and am very happy where I am now - even with problems in my life.
 
College was great! I’m fortunate that I got out in 1966 prior to all the garbage that would begin in a few years. While most of the baby boomers were protesting, I was in the Army. I feel blessed that I was not there when the drugs and sex mania started.
 
I am in college right now, and for the most part it has been a positive experience. I originally enrolled into a pretty competative private university right after high school, but dropped out at the end of the first year with miserable grades, because I was not dedicated or mature, had no idea what I wanted to study and had no idea how to discipline myself. I ended up working for a book store and getting employment experience, travelling some, exploring other options, etc, and when I started back last fall I knew I was ready. For me, waiting to start school has made a lot of difference. I’m not caught up in the drinking and partying, I know how to manage my time, I know what I’m there for, and I still have the options of different social events and clubs to participate in. The school I currently attend is a public university, and seems very balanced and unbiased, but I would like to transfer next fall to a Catholic university.
 
I look back on my 4 undergraduate years with mixed emotions. I went to Denison University in Granville, OH. It’s a private, secular college (despite its name , it’s really not a university). It is a formerly Baptist school that is now decidedly liberal and Godless. Student life consists of sports, alcohol and sex. I came from a Catholic high school, and was somewhat out of my element. At first, I tried to assimilate, but I ultimately came to my senses.

When I did, I became terribly unhappy. I spent the last two years of college wishing I were somewhere else. I started to truly recognized the negative impact of the lifestyle of self-indulgence that my peers were living. At the same time, I started to grow in my faith as a direct result. Although the memories are not the most fond, I take a step back and realize the positive impact the horrible environment had on me. I doubt that I would be the person that I am were it not for those years of struggle. So it’s hard to say that the years were miserable but it’s hard to say that the years were good. In the end, all I can say is that those four years of my life were incredibly formative.
 
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weasley_girl:
I am in college right now, and for the most part it has been a positive experience. I originally enrolled into a pretty competative private university right after high school, but dropped out at the end of the first year with miserable grades, because I was not dedicated or mature, had no idea what I wanted to study and had no idea how to discipline myself. I ended up working for a book store and getting employment experience, travelling some, exploring other options, etc, and when I started back last fall I knew I was ready. For me, waiting to start school has made a lot of difference. I’m not caught up in the drinking and partying, I know how to manage my time, I know what I’m there for, and I still have the options of different social events and clubs to participate in. The school I currently attend is a public university, and seems very balanced and unbiased, but I would like to transfer next fall to a Catholic university.
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Sounds like you did what I should have done! Congratulations for getting your life together and searching for what is truely important! God bless you as you finish your education.
 
I worked my way through college. Worked nights, went to college days, slept never. A very tough 5 years, but wouldn’t trade it for anything. Did the same with Law School - worked days, went to school nights and weekends. It was better because it was difficult. Best/worst years of my life.

God bless us all,
Paul
 
As a protestant, I attended a state college in PA, away from home and love it! One of the best things I could have done was to join a sorority (yes, you read that correctly). Here I met some of my best friends in life - almost every one of them Catholic! The Church must have been calling me Home since I grew up in a pretty anti-Catholic household. I then met my husband, who was a Catholic! Being in a sorority does not mean you need to abandon ones Catholic beliefs - I serve as the national philanthropy/service coordinator, and our national staff has several Catholics on board - including its president! What a great opportunity it is for Catholic women to assist in developing woman of character! I have converted to the Catholic faith and also find that I have so much more in common with my best friends than ever before.

God Bless!
 
I attended community college briefly(1 1/2 years) when I was 19. My husband was on a 6 month Med Cruise (he was in the Navy) and we didn’t have base housing yet so I was still in my home state. I attended with my best friend (since I was 12). She was married also, (had her daughter at 17) so we decided to do this together.

It was a very good experience. In jr.high/high school my grades were average, passing basically in most classes. I was more interested in hanging out with friends than studying.My parents always got the “she doesn’t apply herself” speech. Well I found out they weren’t lying. I aced every class in college. My entrance scores even put me in an advanced English course. And my math scores were actually very good even though math was always my least favorite subject.

My psychology teacher even told me I was his best student and “you should do something with that brain of yours.” There was some damage to my faith that took some years to undo. My psych teacher basically attributed all spirtual feelings to brain functions. I didn’t really buy into it but still it put some doubts in the back of my mind.

When we finally got an apartment where my husband was stationed (small base with limited housing) I never returned to college. I do read and study subjects I’m interested on my own.I am doing something with my brain though, the most important thing of all - homeschooling our daughter.
 
Five years, a lot of regrets personal and academic, and I didn’t finish. Missed opportunities galore and I burned out. I really could have used some emotional support a firmer parental hand to guide me but I was out-of-state for three of the five years (or rather my parents were), which is when I really lost focus and stopped showing up for some classes.

Academia though is a real love of mine. I am well-suited to university life…if only I had a degree! 🙂 Some day I’ll go back now that I’m older and wiser.

I went to the largest state university here, the University of Washington. Mostly impersonal. Hopelessly liberal and politically correct. Some few very good courses in my field of interest, but many terrible ones. The 800-person math class, complete with teacher’s aides who barely spoke English, was the worst. The Intro to Women’s Studies class was the most insidious piece of propaganda I ever met. The student government and campus culture very left-wing and irrational mostly.

My faith was challenged and over time it eroded to almost nothing. My local college church group was very focussed on the Greeks (frats & sororities) and their experiences and thus didn’t appeal to me (quiet intellectual living in the dorms or apartments) at all.

Short answer: expensive. How many more decades til my student loans are paid???
 
LIke a lot of people, my experience taught me a lot from a life lessons point of view. My faith wasn’t strong, but it never actually went away, more like dormant. I would love to do it over again.

Peace

Tim
 
I went back to school as a nontraditional student and got a history degree in 2 years by going summers and taking a full load. I played in nightclub bands at night and made good money so I didn’t have to borrow. I lived off-campus so I wasn’t too involved with campus life.

It was at the university that I found God, even though it was a secular state college. I remember my epiphany in a history class where we were lectured on the French Revolutionary terror and its heirs Lenin and Stalin…and I realized what a total bust materialism & atheism had been. My school is considered liberal but it must not have been too bad in the 1980s, or at least my professors were properly respectful of religious writers like Augustine and Aquinas. I learned that their philosophy was perfectly respectable and could certainly hold its own with what came later in the Enlightenment. Or maybe I didn’t pay proper attention to pick up liberal nuance… Also I turned my nose up at Women’s Studies and the other faddish courses. No regrets!
 
I hated high school and didn’t care much for colelge, but I loved grad school.
 
It was funny to read Meggie’s message. I was going to say that one choice in the poll should be “It was a place where I managed to hold onto my faith, barely”, because that would have been my poll answer. I am thrilled that my oldest has just been accepted to Ave Maria. When I remember my college years, I am certain that I do not want my children to have the same experience, and would not even allow them to consider attending the university that I went to, but I suspect that Meggie is a student now at that same school! It does have a wonderful theater department - and as a matter of fact, the student who was a fabulous actor when I was there is now a diocesan priest. I am glad to see that Meggie is finding NU a nice place to be, which shows that the college isn’t always the problem - could be that I was! Thanks to be our Blessed Mother for rescuing me, though! Best wishes to Meggie as she continues her studies!
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Meggie:
I’m in College now.
I’m not sure about how I rank my experainces 90% of my struggles are internal.
I go to a Catholic school where we have amazing homilies that are very pro-life, not every student is, but its a good environment.
I love my clubs, St Vincnt dePaul Society, the radio show, NU Stirngs&woodwinds and I love that I will be in the senior one act festivle.
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