What regrets do you have about your own college experience?

[Anonymous]

I too wish I would have finished my honors program. It required a thesis, and I was bad at writing and didn’t know how to research. I wish I would have asked for more help/advice. Had I done so, I might be a PhD economist today. Also, I wish I would have taken more initiative to get involved. I was a smart, introverted kid without good role models regarding discipline and hard work. I’ve done fine professionally, but I think I could have excelled.

[Anonymous]

I regret treating university as an extended summer camp session, putting little effort into academics. I struggled to gain admission to a decent law school later due to my poor grades, while many of my peers had no such difficulty because they went to class, studied, and so on. I awakened in law school, but would have gotten more out of my undergraduate experience had and an easier time getting in to a good law school had I been more diligent about the academic side of things.

[Anonymous]

I went to a no name college, dropped out of the honors program, smoked a ton of weed, drank a bunch, did a few other drugs, had a fantastic time, made great friends, graduated summa, won a prestigious international award, went to law school, became wealthy, and retired early. No regrets at all!

[Anonymous]

I always wanted to study abroad and had almost completely committed to going to France junior year when my boyfriend talked me out of it because he would miss me too much.

Also, I didn't take advantage of internship opportunities, although that was less of a "thing" in the 1980s than it is now.

I would have gotten more out of the entire experience had I been more mature. When I was on the fence as to whether to hold back my November birthday son from starting kindergarten, this was one of the things that informed my decision.

[Anonymous]

I wish I’d known about merit aid, so I could have applied other places.

I was a neglected kid and naive and did not have a mentor or guiding hand to point me toward clarifying my career choices. I wish I’d known what to do with regards to that.

Overall, I’m proud I overcame the odds—undiagnosed LD, little money, and unsupportive parents—to graduate from a top flagship.

[Anonymous]

Wish I had studied abroad

Wish I had thought more seriously about the best school for my major. My school was a great name for my resume, but there was zero support for anyone looking to work in the DC area/in politics. I landed my white house internship on my own and didn't even bother with career services - they were focused on getting people jobs in banking and consulting. That said, my alma mater does now have a DC program, so it probably has changed a little since I graduated 25 years ago (my friend reminded me of this fact a couple days ago ;P)

I sometimes wonder if I should have looked more seriously at one of the women's colleges that recruited me, but that is more a path not taken thing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally wish I’d completed the honors program and stayed with my original major.

Really? If that’s all then you did pretty well. Who cares about the friggin’ honors program by the way?

Well structured honors programs/honors colleges create a totally different experience at large state public universities. Surrounded by motivated classmates and profs, better housing, priority registration, and a higher quality of social life if one so chooses.

[Anonymous]

I always tell kids headed off to college - any college -- to take advantage of the opportunities that are available at a college campus. They rarely come around later in life. Go see plays and concerts - student productions can be great, but also many professionals go through as well. Keep an eye on the student newspaper and go hear the talk given by the Secretary of Education or whatever. When will you be able to do that again?

I graduated on time and with a good gpa from a Big10 school.
I played IM sports, went to football games, had friends and met my wife, but did very little else additional until my Senior year when I suddenly woke up and realized that there was a world of things going on right near me, and at no or very low cost. Ahhhhh.

[Anonymous]

I selected my alma mater because it had a prestigious reputation without understanding the particulars of the program for my major; for example, this committed me to an engineering curriculum that had little to do with my major. I was able to do the work, but it made college miserable.

[Anonymous]

I regret staying with my high school boyfriend as long as I did. It kept me from really plugging-in socially until late in my Jr year and by my Sr year I really didn't want to graduate b/c I was living my best social life, whereas most of my peers had btdt and were ready to move on.

I also totally regret not studying abroad because of that same boyfriend. Nice guy, but sheesh, I knew I couldn't see myself marrying him so I'm not sure what I was thinking outside of wanting to avoid the pain of a break-up

[Anonymous]

I wish I had majored in something better suited to my personality. I wish I had not taken out so many student loans.

[Anonymous]

I looked at my transcript once and I felt like I had too many "101s." Like, I took ONE basic course in religion, Russian history, geography, etc. I would have liked to have gone a little deeper in a couple of areas beyond my major.

I also had a pretty significant eating disorder. I thought I was hiding it, but I know it affected my friendships and my ability to have fun at times.

[Anonymous]

I went to an isolated, cold weather, non-diverse, LAC of under 2,500 students which was very Greek oriented.

Boring. Lots of cliques.

Tired of so few social options which centered around drinking & staring at the same faces each day everywhere.

Limited majors & limited courses.

LAC profs were nice, friendly people, but not cutting-edge and not familiar with the real world.

While I definitely took advantage of study abroad opportunities, I still found my time on campus suffocating.

Lots of athletics, but D-3 athletics was really just a continuation of high school athletics even though we won league championships in several sports.

Wish that I had gone to a much larger, warm weather Southern school that offered a wider variety of courses and majors and a higher caliber of athletics. Wish that I had experienced National University level professors. Wish that I had experienced a diverse community and a community which had grad students as well as undergrads.

Truthfully, my LAC experience was a step down from my prep school experience.

I really wanted to experience the intellectual, social, and athletic energy of a large diverse community. I did experience this in grad school & I am forever grateful for my large university experience.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had chosen different friends.

[Anonymous]

Drank too much. It affected my grades and my rep.

I also spent way too much time being upset about not having a boyfriend. While I definitely hooked up too much, I am also glad I didn’t have a serious boyfriend for several years of college.