Reply to Current college freshmen - how many of them are super happy?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Current college freshmen - how many of them are super happy?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC is a first year at a top 20 school.  His experience so far has been mixed.  I am struck by how many of his high school peers are having likewise mixed experiences so far.  They are doing well academically but are hit with feelings of ennui. This cohort has been through so much — high school sophomore year interrupted mid-year, a Covid induced discontinuous high school junior year and crazy college application process high school senior year.  These kids are so confused now in their first year of college.  The sense I get is that these kids just lost a big chunk of their childhood, as the formative high school years were kind of ripped away from them.  Talk of transferring, pausing education and going on cross country camping trips abound.  Anyone seeing this / feeling this from this cohort of kids?  I struggle to offer words of encouragement, namely that it will all sort itself out.[/quote]

TBH, it sounds like you are describing kids/families who prioritized rank over fit. Now you are wondering why they don’t seem happy.

Generally speaking, if you make life decisions  based upon pleasing/impressing others, you are unlikely to achieve personal fulfillment (though your social media might be awesome). [/quote]

Don’t be a dick. A northwestern or Penn is going to open a hell of a lot more doors than JMU and that’s just pragmatic — vs. an attempt to i “impress others”

Sometimes you do the more difficult thing that will yield a bigger payout later[/quote]

The point of the "pie eating contest" is to live an UMC life in a HCOL city. I don't understand why people here are complaining and moping about how working hard in high school to get into Stanford or wherever is just "a pie eating contest where the prize is eating more pie" -- that's not it at all. The prize is being able to graduate with a lucrative offer in tech or finance so you can set yourself up for a high QoL as an adult. Of course, if your kids at a T20 decide to be a teacher or a marine biologist or whatever do-gooder low-paying job they want, it's a colossal waste of the resources of an Ivy.

I see lots of suggestions for a fun gap year going cross-country camping. That's an AWFUL idea. I highly suggest OP's kid as well as anyone else with a kid in a similar situation take a gap year living on their own working a crappy minimum wage food service job. They will be WAY more appreciative of the opportunities they have when the come back to their T20 and be more focused on setting themselves up for a lucrative career post-grad. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics