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Something else I forgot to mention: I think that another reason why I enjoyed college so much better than the real world is because I am not a morning person at all. In college, I was mostly on my own schedule, but the real world forces you to act as a morning person. It's hard to enjoy anything in life when Mon-Fri I'm fighting my body's natural rhythm, and all I can think of is catching up on sleep over the weekend. In college, even if I had an early morning class, it would be 2 or 3 days a week, and I could sleep late the rest of the week. In the rare case that I had an early morning class 5 days a week, it would only be for 13 weeks, with a lot of holidays and breaks in between. It seems that very few people can relate to me.
I can relate. I'm not a morning person either. All/late nighters were common during my high school and college years.
It was nice having the flexibility to go to school and back home (I was at a commuter school) as I pleased. I also liked to alternate: sometimes i had morning classes, other times I had evening courses. College became like a home away from home.
In "the real world", the same does not necessarily hold true. You very well may lose out on a bonus or raise, have to work overtime, or even get fired because someone you're working with couldn't hold their own. Your own poor performance may also do the same to others, causing them lots of problems.
This post was spot on!
I quoted the above paragraph because I think this can happen in college as well when you're working on a group project with incompetent people. It happened to me once. Long story short, we started as 5 and ended up as 2 because three people weren't pulling their weight, resulting in their being kicked out of the group.
Also in corporate America, unlike college, being skilled at your job is becoming more of a negative. It seems there's a push toward mediocrity in your actual work (while excellence is praised in your social team-building exercises).
There's no real incentive to be better either. Once they know you're the skilled one you get more work, without more pay. Then someone quits and instead of getting replaced their workload is either spread across multiple people or gets dumped on you.
Plus millennials are getting bashed for not bending over backwards and chasing that promotion. Well, I'm not sure what they expected as they grew up watching fathers and uncles chase a promised promotion/raise, put in their 5 years, and then have their companies screw them over.
College isn't supposed to be "an experience" it is supposed to give you the skills to find gainful employment to sustain you throughout life.
Actually it's supposed to be where you become an educated man or woman. Skills are important, but if that's all you get out of college, you missed the point.
I recently read a quote online that seemed to resonate with me, as it probably does others who miss their college experience: "When transitioning from college to the working world, one goes from having no money and a lot of time to having money and little time."
I graduated in December 2007, the month in which the recession officially kicked off. The next two years were nothing short of tumultuous on the job front. I was laid off, had to quit two jobs for different reasons, and job opportunities were hard to come by.
Thankfully, I wound up finding a stable, well-paying job later on. I also now find myself married and living in a condo I was able to purchase last year.
Going back to the quote referenced above, my life outside college has gotten better ten-fold as far as money and home life are concerned.
However, the flexibility that college afforded is something most of us will never experience again. Being in an office 40+ hours a week, where you're forced to listen to and work with people you may not particularly like, starts to suck after a while. In college, once class ends, you get the hell out.
In college, you are also graded objectively for your work. If you study your ass off, you'll earn an A or B. You have graduation to look forward to. You always know which classes you have to take next.
The real world isn't as clear cut and tidy. You might get stuck in a dead end job or working with people/bosses who make your life miserable. You're not as in control of the situation. Whereas in college you can simply drop the class, it isn't as easy to quit a job cold turkey when you have bills to pay.
Not to mention I miss the intellectual stimulation of the college setting. Corporate America, by comparison, is so bland. Yes, it's great to get paid to work as opposed to forking over your own money to get a degree. But I have always been an A student/overachiever in school my whole life. It was a chief part of my identity through college; I have felt something of a void in this area since graduating.
That's why I am not sure what I can do to reintegrate myself into the college environment. I thought about getting a master's, but I don't really need one for my field. (My employer doesn't offer tuition reimbursement, and I don't expect to receive support in the way of grants or scholarships.) Besides, what happens once I complete the master's?
The only other options that come to mind are finding a job /volunteering at a university. But it'd be naive of me to think that I'll recapture my college years by doing any of these things. They're entirely different animals. When you work at a college, you're probably sitting at a cubicle just like you would at a business. You're not walking around campus and studying at the library.
I guess I have to appreciate my college years for what they were and move on. It's just sometimes hard to swallow the fact that I will never get to relive those years. And, believe it or not, I never lived on campus -- I went to a 2-year college and then transferred to a commuter school.
Have you found life after college to be less or more exciting than your college years? If you could, would you go back someday -- whether to pursue a master's or work there?
I graduated in 2007 too. I feel you. I went through a period 2 years after college feeling the same way you did. It took me a year of living at home to find a stable job, and create a stable life- but after I achieved that life felt super pointless. I think what you are feeling is a "there must be more to life than this" type of feeling. Many people feel this way but do not take direction to change their life path. I think it is great you are questioning and hope you figure things out. There are different paths that you can take including getting a master's or volunteering. For me, I started my own business in a completely unrelated field. Although it's not a perfect life either and has many stresses and problems of it's own (especially during a rough year when I barely made enough to cover my expenses), I like life as it is better than being a corporate drone. Not being around people I don't want to be around, being able to take days off whenever I want, having time for my hobbies like reading for pleasure, starting new businesses, etc are priceless. I found my meaning to life through entrepreneurship, but there are many other avenues to resolve the feeling of "there must be more to life."
I think it's great you are questioning and seeking alternative paths. Not knowing what field you are in, maybe you can work for a college? If you are willing to relocate, there are plenty of colleges all over the country hiring for a variety of jobs. Since most collegetowns are cheap and have lower cost of living, you could possibly even settle temporarily for a part time job while you get a master's degree or work your way up at that college?
This thread reminds me of a friend I met in college.
She was an art major. Her parents were wealthy, so they paid for her college with cash. They even gave her a mustang. She was a popular girl and people lined up (literally, I swear I'm not exaggerating) to date her.
I was a science and engineering major. Quite poor background so I had to take out a lot of loans. Didn't have that much luck with dating.
Somehow, somewhere in there we became life long friends.
After we graduated, I went ahead and got a job with a software developing company. She started subbing at schools because she simply couldn't find a full time job with her art degree. A couple years later, I quit programming and got a job as a law enforcement officer. A couple years after that I quit that job, went back to grad school, got a masters in engineering, and started working in an engineering firm. She's still subbing earning $20k/year while I earn many more times that working in management.
Last time we went out to a bar and just enjoyed the night, she shared with me that she really misses the carefree environment of college. I'm the opposite. I love my life nowadays and I'd rather shoot myself in the head before I have to go back to school. She recently broke up with someone she's been dating seriously and living with for the last 5 years because (again, I swear I'm not exaggerating) she felt the relationship was holding her back and she wasn't going out and partying enough anymore. Again, I'm the opposite of this. My boyfriend and I hate going to clubs nowadays. When we have free time we just take road trips, travel to places, or work on various projects around the house.
This friend of mine is just one example. God knows I've seen plenty of other examples. So, it seems to me that the people who say they miss college are people who never have an ambition to excel in life while the people who can't even fathom the idea of going back to school are people who are on top of things in the real world.
This is a really terrible thing to write and super harsh. I think what the OP is feeling is normal and lots of people feel this way, of questioning if there's maybe more to life than what's on the surface. I was not wealthy or popular in college, college wasn't that objectively enjoyable for me at the time and I couldn't wait to graduate. But as an adult certain parts of me long for that time when you didn't have to yet think about life yet. It doesn't mean the OP lacks ambition to succeed in life, and that's a terrible thing to say about someone you've never met before on an internet forum.
The only thing I miss about college is having friends around in close proximity every day.
But if you're stuck in a bad job, that will always be worse. Finding something you really enjoy makes life after school a completely different experience. Don't just go for the money.
once class ends you leave? college can be around a 40hr week too...
why cant you just leave work and enjoy life?
you need a hobby or something. life is better post college, you have as much free time and more money
i might go back when retired and take business classes, or just fashion? whatever i want that is me hobby at the time.
College isn't 40 hours a week for everyone, and most of that work can be done at home, which makes a difference. The people you meet after college are not anywhere near as interesting, not all of us are lucky to make decent money, so we end up spending 40 hours or more at a job we hate, trapped in a store or an office doing mind numbingly dull work, and are usually too tired after work to do anything substantial. And that's if we actually have money to do anything. If you own a home your free time is eaten up with grass cutting and maintenance and errands you probably didn't have to do in college.
Yes, post-college life is absolutely more boring for some of us.
How are people back when you were in college "more interesting"? At that age I didn't consider my self as well rounded and experienced as I am now. I knew almost nothing about the world at that time. The interesting life experiences didn't really start until the post college years when I could actually afford to do things. It was quite a shock going from a the majority sheltered suburban life I grew up in to the real world.
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