Why do college students left out of bar-hopping get sympathy, but not college students left out of graduation?

[TheSpanishDoctor]

Nobody feels bad for kids left out of bar-hopping, sorry. The kids that really want to drink will just go to parties.

[Anonymous]

Um because it’s his fault. He’s lazy/incapable and did not deserve to graduate with his peers. Actually, they’re not his peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The drinking age stopped no one at my college. Same with my daughter.

+1 what?! I turned 21 during senior year and drank plenty before that. Never heard of this meriting "sympathy." It's very weird to lump that in with taking 5 yrs to graduate.

[Anonymous]

What? How do either of these come up in conversation? Are you bringing up these topics? No one feels sympathy about bar hopping because being 21 hasn’t stopped most college kids from drinking. And no one feels sympathy about graduation dates because it’s all a choice. I didn’t walk in mine because I didn’t want to. Do you feel bad for me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um because it’s his fault. He’s lazy/incapable and did not deserve to graduate with his peers. Actually, they’re not his peers.

Plenty of students are not traditional 4 year students. And why does your first sentence begin with “um”?

[Anonymous]

Why do promiscuous boozers act like EVERYONE was or is getting blackout drunk and screwing random sex partners in college?

Most of the smart mature kids are NOT into heavy boozing and by 3rd year they are itching to get the hell out of their college town. Graduating early has been a thing for decades.

Lots of kids were graduating early at my state school over 20 years ago; either by loading up credits, taking classes the first summer, and/or APs.

[Anonymous]

Everyone assumes the kid that took 5 years to graduate was lazy or had issues.

I could have graduated in 3 years so 5 just sounds wild to me.

[Anonymous]

I went to college in the south and you could get into clubs at 18. Here it’s 21. So it didn’t stop any of us from going out when we weren’t 21

[Anonymous]

Huh?

[Anonymous]

I think you have some strange friends.

[Anonymous]

The fix for both issues is weed.

[Anonymous]

OP, what is it you feel that you and/or your kid aren’t getting from the people in your lives?

What if you just gave those things to yourself, and to him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard lots of people tell stories about how they or their children didn't turn 21 until halfway through their senior year, and how terrible it was to be left out and not be able to go out with their friends. However, whenever I tell people about how my son will be graduating this spring after 5 years while he had to watch all his friends graduate last spring, it gets brushed off by everyone, even those who simultaneously think that they or their kid had it rough by not being able to go to bars with their friends. I understand that there are much bigger problems in the world than social isolation. What I don't understand is why it's understandable to feel left out when your friends go to bars without you, but not when your friends graduate without you.

You need new friends. LOL

Op be proud your child finished. Be proud of your child and their accomplishments.
What is wrong with you? Plenty of kids take 4.5 years and 5 years. Except for the financial complications for some families who gives a shit that your kid took longer. It's not their friend's responsibility to hang with them while they finish and if they dropped them then they were not friends to begin with.

Why didn't your kid try to make some new friends, join new clubs. Why didn't they end in four years if they always have to follow their friends? Did they follow their friends to college from HS? Did they plan on following them to a city after college?

What a bizarre post. This is your problem and you made it your kid's problem.

[Anonymous]

Your son is still able to graduate. Just at a different time than his friends. By his choice for picking a program that is 5 years. He is missing out on nothing.

I graduated a semester early, 5 days after I turned 21. So I never drank legally in college and graduated before my friends. I'm pretty sure not one person gave me nor my parents any "sympathy".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard lots of people tell stories about how they or their children didn't turn 21 until halfway through their senior year, and how terrible it was to be left out and not be able to go out with their friends. However, whenever I tell people about how my son will be graduating this spring after 5 years while he had to watch all his friends graduate last spring, it gets brushed off by everyone, even those who simultaneously think that they or their kid had it rough by not being able to go to bars with their friends. I understand that there are much bigger problems in the world than social isolation. What I don't understand is why it's understandable to feel left out when your friends go to bars without you, but not when your friends graduate without you.

You’ve heard lots of people?!?

I doubt it, unless you’re a 21 year old drunkard.

Get over yourself.