What regrets do you have about your own college experience?

[Anonymous]

I wished I had joined a sorority as a freshman (I joined later and those were the best/most happiest years of my life). I also wish I had studied abroad. My parents paid for my housing and my college, but I had to pay for all other living expenses. They wouldn't sign off on student loans to study abroad. Funny thing was that my very first job out of college had a 25k student loan reimbursement program. And I didn't qualify because I had no student loans.

[Anonymous]

More hookups, fewer boyfriends, harder classes, more friends outside my clique, more trips to NYC on the weekends. More Phish shows, less worrying, more time doing non-studying while studying abroad. More basketball games, more hockey games, fewer tailgates. More time outside, less time worrying about my clothes. More philosophy, more math, less psychology. Otherwise it was great.

[Anonymous]

Everything is relative OP. Only about 34-35% of the US Population has even graduated from college. So, I am happy I graduated + then graduated from law school. I was poor/grew up with 8 kids in my family. Dad refused to sign for loans. I commuted to a crabby State U, worked several jobs, had zero fun! Fast forward-- husband (who also grew up deprived) and I are now rich. Rest assured we turned off the spigot at one kid so they could go to the very best schools money can buy-- private schools + Ivy. American Dream!

[Anonymous]

My major was Business Administration - Marketing. It was not interesting to me and I didn't feel I learned anything. I had little career guidance. Back then, I was so worried about getting a job that would pay off and business was BIG at my B10 school.

I could have done so many other things that interest me now.

I did get a graduate degree in an unrelated field and I think the business degree helped me get jobs.

[Anonymous]

Wish I'd focused more on academics and taken advantage of the amazing academic opportunities at my school (HYP). I spent my life at the school newspaper, and actual classes were just a diversion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My major was Business Administration - Marketing. It was not interesting to me and I didn't feel I learned anything. I had little career guidance. Back then, I was so worried about getting a job that would pay off and business was BIG at my B10 school.

I could have done so many other things that interest me now.

I did get a graduate degree in an unrelated field and I think the business degree helped me get jobs.

+1

Love this, and agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everything is relative OP. Only about 34-35% of the US Population has even graduated from college. So, I am happy I graduated + then graduated from law school. I was poor/grew up with 8 kids in my family. Dad refused to sign for loans. I commuted to a crabby State U, worked several jobs, had zero fun! Fast forward-- husband (who also grew up deprived) and I are now rich. Rest assured we turned off the spigot at one kid so they could go to the very best schools money can buy-- private schools + Ivy. American Dream!

+1 Similar story here!

[Anonymous]

I wish I hadnt drank so much all the time (or, picked a school where binge drinking was not the primary weekend activity)

I wish I hadn’t skipped class as much as I did.

Wish I’d taken advantage of what things the college had to offer besides partying. Got better at it my senior year thankfully.

This was a small expensive liberal arts college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had picked a more useful major than Communications.

May I pushback on this? I also chose an easy major — because it was easy and a match to my academic preparation at that point. Do you really think you’d be able to hypothetically handle something much harder, ie something with a lot of math and science? Unless you’re able to go all the way back to 9th grade, it’s unlikely. I would have loved to have been able to major in engineering, computer science or especially pre-med, but unless I have a time machine to re-do high school, that wasn’t in the cards at age 18, even with the benefit old age wisdom.

It depends on why one chose that "easy" major: because you didn't have the preparation or because you wanted more time to party? Those are two very different reasons.

I mean, easy major teens in 2023 all know that computer science and engineering leads to $100,000 job offers out of college and the most lucrative career trajectory by a mile. They still don’t pursue them. Why? Because they’re really freaking hard! The average easy major kid would literally fail out of college if they tried to major in engineering or pre-med.

+1

Do not major in CS/Engineering if you do not like it. However, if you are smart enough to handle it, it can't hurt to at least minor in CS or data sciences. You will always have a job (even if you don't like it 100%). I personally think Data sciences is a better minor to couple with any humanities/social sciences as it will open many doors for you

[Anonymous]

I regret dropping out.

[Anonymous]

I chose not to do the honors residency program because the residence hall was at the far fringes of campus and I was worried about feeling too far from everything else on campus or (direct quote) "being sequestered with all the other nerds." I wound up struggling to make friends and I think I would have had more in common with the other nerds.

But I also think I am blaming my social struggles in college on this one choice when in reality it was a bunch of things, probably the biggest one being that I was coming from a super dysfunctional family and started college with a metric ton of rage I wouldn't acknowledge for like another 10 years, crippling insecurity, and few healthy coping strategies for the normal stresses of every day life. I still managed to do very well in college and get into a top law school (the only tool I had for dealing with my insecurity was extreme overachievement) and I do sometimes wonder what I might have been able to do, or the life I might have been able to have if I hadn't been dealing with all that garbage. The truth is that the thing about the honors residency was minor in the grand scheme of things, more of a symptom than a cause of anything.

[Anonymous]

That I didn't work harder in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That I didn't work harder in high school.

+1

I know a parent who is pretty p&ssed about the state of college applications these days, fully knowing that they were not such a great student themselves. Makes no sense. Did they think it would get easier??

Good on you for owning your choices and your life, seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I went to a lower pressure southern school and no, I’m not a troll. I went to a prestigious university up north and hated the climate, the school and my major. I switched majors several times and settled for one finally. My career is secure but nothing I would have seen myself staying in. 30 years later I did just that.

I would tell my teen self about seasonal depression and how I thrive in sunlight and warm weather. Go south for the sun and do not wait until retirement to live in warm weather.

I wish I could have gone to USC over the cold weather state school I graduated from and then promptly moved away from.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had not been lazy academically. I was the smart kid at a crappy high school so I thought I could coast. I got a C+ in a subject that is now a major part of my career (!) just because I was lazy. I ended up with a 3.5+ GPA but it could have been 4.0 if I gave a s***.

I wish I had managed my financial needs better. I should have been an RA or gotten another on-campus job with more normal hours; instead I worked night shifts and other irregular hours and got very little sleep.

I wish I had not stuck with my freshman boyfriend for as long as I did. We dated nearly the entire time. I wasted so much time and energy on him and could have learned a lot more about my preferences and relationship needs. And had more fun, of course!

I wish I had studied abroad. I now travel a lot, so it ended up fine, but it would have been a wonderful experience. I speak a foreign language and I could have become fluent even faster if I had studied in that country!