What regrets do you have about your own college experience?

[Anonymous]

I wish I'd engaged more with the faculty - I went to a big state school and did well in the large class settings, but I mostly tried to fly under the radar and get good grades on my own, but I think there would have been something to gain by going to office hours and getting to know profs and grad students more personally.

I wish I'd studied abroad, but I don't know which semester I would have traded for it because I loved all of it.

I wish I'd learned how to engage with the student health services and set myself up on a better footing for getting regular medical care/monitoring as an adult (including but not only mental health care). Doctors were a big, scary, bad thing to be avoided for me for way too long into adulthood.

[Anonymous]

Another aspect regarding LACs is that one needs to be very careful about dating.

[Anonymous]

I'm mainly happy with my small midwestern LAC experience--did lots of cool internships, traveled abroad, made great friends, have kept close ties to professors and went to the top grad school in my field. My main regret is that I didn't keep up with those friends as much as I would like--grad school and moving a lot afterwards weakened the connections.

[Anonymous]

Honestly a missed sexual opportunity that haunts me to this day!!!

[Anonymous]

Spent too much time focused on class, and not enough focused on getting some a55

[Anonymous]

Child of immigrant parents who grew up in a middle class area where most people didn’t go to college. I had done well with grades and APs in high school but had no guidance or role models. Fell in with the wrong crowd during the end of high school and basically went to a not great state school instead of applying to t50. When I got there I still had no role models, was lost, partying too much, and due to dorm shortages I lived in an off campus house with some random upper class men who were not at all responsible. So yeah things did not go well. I transferred back to a school at home. Fortunately I got an internship that became a spring board to becoming v successful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a huge flagship state school. I hated it. I have siblings who went to smaller universities and had a much more positive college experience - both in instruction quality, attention to students, and making close friendships.

Same. I begged my parents to let me transfer freshman year - they are very much the “tough it out - it’ll get better” types and I listened to them. Huge mistake - I certainly had friends but never really found my people. It was way too big of a school, southern, sororities, bars and frat parties every night - just everything I now realize I’m not! I wish I’d had some better guidance in high school to realize that my school wasn’t a good fit. On the bright side, I got a full scholarship, graduated with no debt, and eventually got an MBA from a top 10 program so I’m doing fine - but it still bums me out that I only still talk to 1 person from college (my core group of ~8 friends are from elementary school and I’m very thankful for them!)

[Anonymous]

I transferred after one semester to another school. At the time I said I was super happy at the new school but by the time I graduated I realized I was just struggling to adapt and the new school wasn’t really the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly a missed sexual opportunity that haunts me to this day!!!

+1

LOL same! I would have spent less time in the library perfecting my GPA, OP.

Also would have studied abroad, which was not prevelant at the time.

[Anonymous]

Wish I had more s&x and studied abroad.

[Anonymous]

add me to the missed out on studied abroad gang. I just honestly didn't want to take a whole semester off.

Also, i regret not taking classes because I don't know anyone in them, or thought they'd be too hard, such as archeology.

[Anonymous]

This is small compared to other things listed here but I wish my late mom had been able to visit more. I was a plane ride away (or a 10-12 hour drive) and she had health issues of her own plus caregiver obligations that meant she couldn't visit me at college beyond driving there with me one of the four falls I went back, and coming to graduation. She loved to travel and would have really enjoyed the area, getting to know the campus, seeing what I was doing, meeting my friends (she was always so sweetly interested in my friends at college). I know, not at all a serious issue like picking the wrong college or wrong major or drinking etc., but it's what comes to mind. I loved my college, classes (mostly!) and friends but wish I'd been able to share it more with the person who made it all possible for me.

[Anonymous]

Everything I wish was different, are things that were beyond my control.

I wish I had been allowed to visit the schools I applied to before committing to them. I wish my parents had agreed to pay for the schools they allowed me to apply to.

I ended up going to the school that was the "best" of the ones I was accepted to, but it was a terrible fit. I was accepted at other schools but was not allowed to visit them--and in some cases not allowed to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. I’m now glad that I didn’t settle down with someone from college.

Also, I had the high school grades and scores to potentially get into prestigious school, and I just applied to state school because no one told me to do otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Wish I didn't stick with the group of friends I did, who were never truly "my people." I didn't learn until my 30s not to do this.

Wish I had studied abroad. I had FOMO I guess, of being forgotten about in said friend group and was afraid to miss out, even though I SO wanted to go away.