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I did not want to post this in the "colleges" forum, because I wanted to focus more on the psychology, the motivation, the mindset behind this.
I just don't understand the people who are my age (mid-40s) and even older who are still extremely devoted to the college/university they attended. They might have bumper stickers on their cars, and they wear sweatshirts, and hats with the school on them. I know a guy who in his late 40s even got a tattoo of his college's logo!
I went to a college and a graduate school. I still have some old sweatshirts from both schools, and I wear them occasionally around the house, but I would not even dream of buying a new shirt with either school's logo and wearing it around in public. I went to one homecoming game two years after college, just to meet up with some people I went to school with, but then I realized that we could get together on our own whenever we wanted, and it didn't require some big crowded sporting event to do so.
Hmm, that brings me to sports. I am not a sports fan, and never was. Could that be it? Are all these people who are still obsessed with their colleges just that way because they are into the sporting teams? If you're one of those people who, in your late 30s or older still get all excited about your school, is that just because you're a fan of their sports team?
I've always lived in south Jersey or PA in the Philly suburbs. If you live in this area, you've probably seen the psychotic Penn State fans. These are people who might have graduated from Penn State like 25 years ago, but they are still intimately involved with Penn State as if it's a family member or a lover. (The guy who just got the tattoo was a Penn State alum). I know there are alumni of other schools who get obsessed like this, but in my geographic area, it's really the Penn state people that are really noticeable.
I believe there are also a lot of people down South who get really involved in their schools too, even attending football games and events 30, 40 years later, and wearing clothing that depicts the school's logo. Is that just about sports, or about the school itself? Is it just about college football? (On another note, why are some people fans of a college football team, when they never even attended that college?)
I liked both of my schools of higher education. I generally am pleased with the education I received, I had some good professors who influenced me, and I've made friends that I may or may not still be in touch with. I might donate money from time to time, but only to specific causes at both schools that I believe in, not just a carte blanche donation because I'm an alumnus. But I can go weeks and weeks and never mention either school in conversation. I don't display bumper stickers of the schools, and I don't attend their events. But these people who are like "Penn State (or whatever school) is awesome!!!!"--are they talking about the education they received? The physical grounds and facilities? The sports teams?
Please share and enlighten us. I think I'm missing a gene or something.
I'll guess a combination of: Obsessive Nostalgia Disorder, Peter Pan Syndrome, and a desire to live (vicariously) an idealized version of what they hoped to experience at school but didn't.
I've never really understood it either. It's almost as though for some people, it's about 'bragging rights'. My school/alma mater/sports team is better than yours. I went to school/graduated there, therefore I'm better than you.
I can't really see it as being a "nostalgia" thing. I am very nostalgic. But in being nostalgic about my college years, it's about the experiences, interactions, and relationships, not about "Yay XYZ State!"
I don't know about the elitism thing. I live and work right near Princeton University, but I don't see tons of people with Princeton bumper stickers and sweatshirts. I mean, if it's about "bragging rights" then that would be a school to brag about. Conversely, tons of people around here display Rutgers logos, and Rutgers isn't necessarily a school for the "elite." I don't really see Penn State as a bastion of intellectualism, so I can't see people wearing all that Penn state stuff, and talking about the school all the time as "bragging." Besides, with all those Penn State alums out there, it must have been pretty easy to get in University of Pennsylvania ("Penn") is a much more prestigious school, but you see lots more "Penn State" psychos than "Penn" psychos, if there even are any.
Again, if it's about sports, that's different. I admit I have no understanding at all as to why sports teams are so important to people. I'm definitely missing that gene.
But with some of these people, their alma mater seems to be like a cult.
I suppose it depends on the school and how much one allowed it to influence them.
I'm an Aggie, a graduate of TAMU and the Corps of Cadets. Especially for the latter, one might expect that I'm Gung Ho to the hilt, that I still live and breath the traditional knowledge to this day.
No, I don't. It was a means to an ends.
But one has to understand how much, how strong the Aggie tradition, that concept is, how much it is pounded into one's head...........and how really, there is no room of individuality, stray cases.
For example, they say at "Final Review", there will be tears due to two reasons. Those for now it is all over and those who realize then that they have missed it (the experience). I didn't shed any tears, didn't see the ceremony as anything great, and just went off to the next event.
After the Corps, I still had 6 months of school left, I was out of the Corps dorms, and I didn't want to get a room without anyone from the Corps. Why not? Because I didn't want to be people who constantly went around with "Hey, you remember when?".
Admittedly, of course, someone like me the Corps would try to get rid of before I graduated. They didn't and what I have now come to recognize, take pride in my audacity.........is a personal quality. It is not the kind of thing that one goes back with to others to hold high.
ON THE OTHER HAND, there are two other schools I did significant course work at. One, I earned 3 more degrees there.......while I was working there and am still working there. When you are there, day to day, I suppose it doesn't affect you as much or in the same way as if you graduated years ago and then returned.....maybe.
One very different experience I have from many people is that in my 40's, I essentially joined a freshman class. While working on a graduate degree in a far different major, I took up acting classes. For 4-5 years, I was with that class, we were friends, watched them move from freshmen to seniors to graduates. I wasn't in any plays with them, but I did act in various scenes. I feel closer to them than I do to my "real" college classes.
So it's possible that if there was a reunion with them, I might indeed return to that one.
Equally, I have two summers of work from UTMSI https://www.utmsi.utexas.edu/ and I feel very attached to that. We were from schools from all over Texas, but we were there for a common purpose, we hung out together...........and sports? Who needs it?
Hence, it's not the school but rather the people one was with. At TAMU, the people I was with were all gung ho to a type of programming I want nothing of, then or now. Different story at the other schools.
Finally, I do occasionally wear shirts from UTMSI, my 3 degree school. It is more for "supporting" the disciplines I studied, that I work in than for anything else.
I think we're evolved to have a sort of sense of tribalism. We all want to feel special in some way. We identify ourselves by our ethnicities, our religions, our hometowns, even our types of vehicle in some cases. Why not based on where you went to school?
I mean, I don't understand why someone would feel that way about a school or school team, but we are herd animals.
I am a church organist and played for a small funeral that the elderly gentleman was a UT Austin grad. It seemed like that was all he cared about ( little said about his family). Everything had to be "burnt orange" and it was "UT this UT that" "Hook em Horns" . It bothered me as there was very little talk or interest in the spiritual aspect of the funeral mass. I thought it was sad.
I did not want to post this in the "colleges" forum, because I wanted to focus more on the psychology, the motivation, the mindset behind this.
I just don't understand the people who are my age (mid-40s) and even older who are still extremely devoted to the college/university they attended. They might have bumper stickers on their cars, and they wear sweatshirts, and hats with the school on them. I know a guy who in his late 40s even got a tattoo of his college's logo!
I went to a college and a graduate school. I still have some old sweatshirts from both schools, and I wear them occasionally around the house, but I would not even dream of buying a new shirt with either school's logo and wearing it around in public. I went to one homecoming game two years after college, just to meet up with some people I went to school with, but then I realized that we could get together on our own whenever we wanted, and it didn't require some big crowded sporting event to do so.
Hmm, that brings me to sports. I am not a sports fan, and never was. Could that be it? Are all these people who are still obsessed with their colleges just that way because they are into the sporting teams? If you're one of those people who, in your late 30s or older still get all excited about your school, is that just because you're a fan of their sports team?
I've always lived in south Jersey or PA in the Philly suburbs. If you live in this area, you've probably seen the psychotic Penn State fans. These are people who might have graduated from Penn State like 25 years ago, but they are still intimately involved with Penn State as if it's a family member or a lover. (The guy who just got the tattoo was a Penn State alum). I know there are alumni of other schools who get obsessed like this, but in my geographic area, it's really the Penn state people that are really noticeable.
I believe there are also a lot of people down South who get really involved in their schools too, even attending football games and events 30, 40 years later, and wearing clothing that depicts the school's logo. Is that just about sports, or about the school itself? Is it just about college football? (On another note, why are some people fans of a college football team, when they never even attended that college?)
I liked both of my schools of higher education. I generally am pleased with the education I received, I had some good professors who influenced me, and I've made friends that I may or may not still be in touch with. I might donate money from time to time, but only to specific causes at both schools that I believe in, not just a carte blanche donation because I'm an alumnus. But I can go weeks and weeks and never mention either school in conversation. I don't display bumper stickers of the schools, and I don't attend their events. But these people who are like "Penn State (or whatever school) is awesome!!!!"--are they talking about the education they received? The physical grounds and facilities? The sports teams?
Please share and enlighten us. I think I'm missing a gene or something.
I don't get it either. One of the MOST annoying things I have to put up with; it's so mind numbing to have to banter back about alama maters... srsly who cares??!! *arrgh
I had a coworker at my last job who went to the same university as me. I said something kind of snarky about the school and she was deeply offended by it to the point where she wouldn't talk to me for a few days.
Sorry, but my college education was a means to an end for me. I don't care about my old university's football team, I don't have school pride, I am not part of the alumni club, and I am not donating any money to the school as I donated thousands in tuition. It got me a job. That was its sole purpose in my eyes.
I don't see any difference for being a devoted Penn State fan, wearing the paraphrenalia, etc. then in being a devoted Philadelphia Eagles fan is (like me, lol) I wear Eagles shirts, I have Eagles earrings, a scarf, etc. If I think about it, it makes more sense to be devoted to a team you actually have some connection to, lol.
There are families who are 5th, 6th, 7th generation Princeton, Penn State, West Point graduates. I do not see anything odd about their loving a school that has meant a lot to them through generations. To many the school has more meaning than to someone who just went there to get a degree and get out. Why judge that as dysfunctional? These are the people who donate money to the schools when most of us toss the letters in the trash, who use the education and connections they got there to become successful, and leave financial legacies to the schools that enable the rest of us to get financial aide. So whatever their reason for their devotion to their alma mater, I'm glad they are out there, because I got $6,000 in scholarships at my school.
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University of Pennsylvania ("Penn") is a much more prestigious school, but you see lots more "Penn State" psychos than "Penn" psychos, if there even are any. 
