No matter how wonderful your campus may seem, I think we can all agree that our universities lie to us all the time. We’ve made a list of the 7 things that we are flat out tired of hearing. Incoming freshman, be warned.
1. Our dining options are the best around.
Sure the restaurants might look cool or feature foreign cuisine, but just when they have you waiting in line to purchase a delicious looking homemade style meal, they all but give you a heart attack with your total. 5 dollars for a small coffee, 7 dollars for a side salad, and 3 dollars extra for guac? (The absolute worst instance I’ve had, yet.) Is this a game? College kids are people too, and we deserve fair prices.
2. Classes are as hard as you make them.
This is also sadly, yet another mind trick used to prey innocent teens into taking 18 hours their first semester of college. Listen to me closely when I say that sometimes, things just happen. Math may be your best subject, but if your professor cancels class half of the time and refuses to post study guides because “the class is your study guide”, good luck. Not every class will be easy, EVEN IF YOU TRY YOUR HARDEST. Isn’t the real world fun?
3. You will have plenty time to participate in extra curricular activities.
This particular lie will depends on the person. If you’re like me, you get too excited when August rolls around and tries to sign up to participate in 12 “super cool clubs with great people, that will look AWESOME on your resume”. If you’re one of the lucky ones and got away with only committing to two or three things, then you’ve officially won the game.
4. Our town has so much to do in it!
Sigh. If you believe this common lie, you’re not alone. There will be a few city colleges that do actually have an incredible nightlife and a list of fun weekend adventures. However, if you don’t live near a city, those nights on the town get pretty old, pretty quick. It’s incredibly important that you find ways to entertain yourself or you just might die of boredom.
5. You will make an incredible amount of friends.
When universities say that you will make friends, they actually mean, you will realize the kind of people you hate are still around in college, so you must find your crowd all over again. You will also find that people with your similar major are the best people to cry with when finals week rolls around.
6. You can afford __________.
If you ever, EVER hear a university representative say that you can afford something that you most definitely know you can’t, you must run at full speed in the opposite direction. I promise, you DO NOT need the “Ultimate Gold Premium $3,000 Meal Plan” or that “$700 Silver Level Parking Garage Pass.” Run.
7. Dorm life is awesome.
And last, but certainly not the least, is the BIGGEST lie you will ever hear on campus. Now, don’t get me wrong. Living on campus does have its perks. However, sometimes the close walk and personal relationship with an RA is not worth the fact that people are just absolutely inconsiderate of noise levels of all time of the day, and the inevitable fact that people between the age of 18-21 DO NOT know how to clean up after themselves in the bathroom. Seriously, people? Come on.
So, there you have it. Whether your list is shorter or much, much longer, I think we can all agree that college is still a pretty cool place to be….just don’t ask anyone that works for the university.