If there is one thing that everyone I know in college can agree on, it is that we all thought that college would be something completely different than it is. Whether we thought it would be better or worse, we all were shown a different side of college before we arrived. Movies and television shows hold some of the blame for that, but it also could have been our families or friends that portrayed college to us in an incorrect light. No matter what we heard about college, chances are, we experienced things a bit differently.
1. Parties
I know for me, I thought that parties were the only other aspect of college besides classes. Everything I heard about picking a college was "Oh, that's a big party school." And even though parties are a big part of the social scene on campus, they aren't everything. They also don't all have themes (I was really expecting more Toga Parties), they aren't all well-decorated and they usually don't have a sick DJ. More often, parties take place in shady basements that are overfilled, smell like vomit and weed and the music is just the host's Spotify account playing....with ads.
2. Dorm Rooms
One of the things I was most excited about when I was preparing for college was buying my dorm decor. I thought that everything would be coordinated and pretty. I expected my room to be clean and spacious and well organized. If you are reading this as a college student, I expect that you have already let out a few chuckles because you know as well as I do that this isn't the case. It is very hard to have a dorm room that is coordinated with your roommates with a nice color scheme and perfect organization, and even if you make that happen by some miracle, it doesn't stay that way. Pretty soon, you won't be able to see the floor and your cute bed set will be unmade and mangled. Not to mention, dorm rooms are the complete opposite of spacious. You might as well live in a shoe box.
3. Dating
OK, this isn't necessarily true for everyone, but I thought that dating would play a much bigger part in all of our lives in college. Movies made me believe that I would spend all my time avoiding walking in on my roommates and going on double dates at local spots with my roommates. Maybe this happens, but I genuinely do not even have time to sleep most of the time, so I am definitely not going on cute dates all the time, and neither are any of my friends for the most part.
4. Spring Break
"22 Jump Street" gave me unrealistic expectations for Spring Break. Everyone doesn't drive across the country to do Spring Break way. In fact, a ton of us still had assignments due during Spring Break and the only thing we wanted to do with our extra time was sleep.
5. Professors
I was always told that when I got to college, I wouldn't have someone to make sure i went to class and that I was doing my work and being successful. And although that is partially true, it isn't quite like I thought. Even though my professors aren't going to chase me around campus and send me to detention if I don't turn in my homework, many of them do award grades based on attendance. They count every single assignment that they assign. It does matter that you go to class and do work, and my experience has shown that they do care about their students' success, they just have a lot more students to teach. Professors can also be your greatest ally on campus for jobs and internships and letters of recommendation. They aren't all big and scary.
6. Free Time
Not only was I lied to about the amount of free time I would have, but what I would do in it. Every college brochure told me that I would go out on "The Quad" and play extreme Frisbee with all my super diversely talented friends, and then we would drink a glass of sweet tea in our hammocks afterwards. OK, I might be exaggerating, but free time really is falsely advertised. Once again, if I have free time, it is probably spent napping.
Don't get me wrong, some things about college were explained totally spot on. But I had a ton of preconceived notions about college life that I found out were wildly incorrect. Although movies make college look spectacular and dramatic, I wouldn't change a single thing about my college experience thus far.
