Do you think college is hard or easy?

Post Reply New Topic

It amuses me whenever I hear someone complain about how much trouble they have with their college work.

Do they go to elite schools?
Are they studying the wrong subject?
Do they go to college because they feel obliged to?
Do they have low IQs?
Do they have learning disabilities?
Are they dyslexic?
Is their ADD getting on the way of their learning?
Do they have a lot of obligations besides schoolwork?
Is their social life consuming all their free time?
Are they feigning "humility"?
Are they trying not to intimidate me?
Are they confusing graduate school with undergraduate school?

Those are some of the questions that pass through my mind when I hear someone tell me that college is supposed to be "tough" and "a lot of work." If you are one of those persons for whom college is difficult, what do you find difficult about it?

Last edited by Mw99 on 02 Dec 2007, 11:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I'm currently in college. Basically, all you have to do is go to class everyday, do ALL of the homework, study as much as you can for tests, and make sure you don't take too many classes each quarter.

I didn't find college difficult, except for three courses. One was Medieval History. The prof never asked questions from the book or lectures, I suspect he pulled the out of his ass, but I can't say for sure. I managed a D, which was a hit to my 3.89 GPA. But I earned every point of that D. The second was Ballroom Dancing. For reasons I still cannot wrap my head around, we had to take a "sport" as a requirement. I went to two classes, and managed to pass with a D. The third was Statistics, which I just finished to graduate. I saved it for last for a reason. I got a B, but not without a lot of wanting to quit along the way. So I managed to keep my GPA around a 3.0 overall. Can't complain I guess. I went through a lot in my life through college so that was really the only reason it was "hard". Otherwise no.

I went to college when I was 23, and dropped out anyway after 3 semesters.

No.

Maybe, but is there a right one?

That was sort of the case.

No.

Not according to the "experts."

Only with numbers, and not horribly bad.

Almost definately.

Oh yes, big time. But I don't think that was the issue.

I was unwillingly overly socialized, but don't think that was the problem either.

Don't think so, but not sure what you mean on this one.

Am I? No. I'm getting confused now.

Does anyone?

My first year, college was easy. And there is hardly any work involved; three essays a year, plus maybe a couple of presentations. Otherwise, if you do the reading and can contribute to class discussions, great. If not, nobody notices. (But I had to study my ass of for exams about the books I didn't read, of course...)

This year it is TOUGH. It's not that the information itself is to difficult for me to grasp (I'm a history and lit major, LOL), it's just that I am always working on essays and presentations, and the professors expect a lot more from me. (I can't BS anymore.) Of course, my tendency to procrastinate doesn't help.

But actually, I can't figure out exactly what it is that's so difficult. It's just a lot of research.

Yes I think college is hard. That's because the work is abstract and I have a different learning style. I also have reading comprehension difficulty and writing reports is very hard. Also when teachers give you tests on the assignment, they don't even tell you what is going to be on the test so you don't know what you have to study so you have to study everything and for me, it's very overwhelming, maybe I am just lazy?

It can be quite hard sometimes, but the fact that you work independently most of the time makes it more tolerable. I prefer it to working though.

Perhaps the issue is more one of being ill-prepared by one's high school. Our American educational system has watered down curricula to an embarrassing extent. Or, too much partying being done by the complainers.
I didn't have a problem with college work at all, but then my high school education consisted mainly of rigorous college prep.

I'm a first semester freshman at Boston University. In high school, I was 15 in my class and took 4 APs over the course, but I didn't find it hard. I got almost all my homework done (besides papers and studying) during my other classes, and for big tests an 45mins-2 hours was all I needed to memorize well. I'd go home and watch 6 hours of TV, then go to bed early. I was a member of a few clubs and did things with friends about a once a week, but overall, high school was a breeze. However, almost everyone else did not feel that way. They did sports that went later and blamed it on that, but they were often up till 2 AM. I know that even when I did get out really late, I almost never did homework at home. I seemed like a slacker but almost always did well. Now, in college, I find it harder. Not ridiculous - I've gotten all good grades. But now I don't just have studies or electives to do my homework in, and I'm taking 3 heavy writing classes. I used to make up math and science homework usually. Here, I actually need to turn in an essay a few times a week so I have to put work into it. I'm a good writer, but making myself sit down and start is an issue, and it takes a few hours. So I feel like I have much more work, but it's not really 'hard.' For me, socializing is the hard part of college. Most people I know say their classes are pathetically easy - way easier than high school. I don't feel my classes are pathetically easy, but they are less often and more geared towards my interest areas - there's just a little too much writing sometimes.

It's both, depending on the course. Some classes are easy for me, others are very difficult.

Also, all colleges aren't the same. I hardly studied at all and got on the dean's list at my last college, though I'm really having to work to earn a B average this semester at Rutgers. An "A" at one college is a "B" or "C" at another. Even among the highly intelligent all of college isn't "easy." Even geniuses aren't good at everything.

Thats a rather elitist attitude... there are countless reasons why someone might think college is hard, and considering that the majority do think its rather difficult (maybe not really hard or anything, but difficult enough) suggests that its more of a rarity that its not difficult, than it being something wrong making it difficult...

I'm in college now, and while I wouldn't say its difficult, I wouldn't say its easy either... some courses are difficult, some aren't... but there are so many factors I can't blame any one thing... yay, I discover I have ADD, well that certain changes things, oh depression keeping me from getting to class, well kinda hard to learn if you can't attend, depression keeping motivation down... now THATs a big one, even w/o attending class, if I cared, then I could get stuff done, but instead I'll sit there for 6 hours on end trying to make myself care about getting the work done... not all that easy

I've also have had classes in the same college which has completely different difficulties, even the same type... like linear algebra, I'm almost failing it, just can't get it... while calc three I'm acing, so theres alot more to take into consideration

I'd never compare my college experience to others, and think theres something wrong on their end to make them have difficulty, because I know how simply having the wrong teacher can change everything, and having some sort of outside thing, like depression, can also affect it, so I'd be in no place to judge their experiences

I think College is very hard; but then again I am an underachiever and I could probably do a lot better than I am doing now provided that I actually tried harder:

Do they go to elite schools?
I don't think this really matters that much. Honestly, if you go to a party school it is going to be easy. If you go to a school that focuses more on academics(It certainly doesn't have to be "elite") it is going to be a lot harder.

Are they studying the wrong subject?
Maybe; but there hasn't been a single subject in school that has interested me outside of Math. And I am way too lazy to become a Math Major.

Do they go to college because they feel obliged to?
Well like no ****. I don't even like College at all(It is a waste of time, but you have to go if you want to make money in life). Unless you are the Bill Gates type.

Do they have low IQs?
Does this even matter that much. People who are AS/Austistic seem to place an insignificant important on a person's IQ. It doesn;t really matter that much; if you work hard you will do better.

Do they have learning disabilities?
This will make a difference.

Are they dyslexic?
I think I learned what this meant a while ago but I forgot what it means now. I'm too lazy to look it up.

Is their ADD getting on the way of their learning?
I highly HIGHLY doubt this is the problem. Chances are they are just too damn lazy to spend the time studying or going to office hours and weekly study sections.

Do they have a lot of obligations besides schoolwork?
Theres people with 12 credit hours and work 40 hours a week. But honestly these kind of people do better in school since they are mature enough to handle the full time job and the schoolwork.

Is their social life consuming all their free time?
Which is College would be going to parties, hanging out in your friends apartment/dorm room; or trying to do some random unimportant/insignificant thing to pass the time. Probably not.

Are they feigning "humility"?
No, they are just lazy.

Are they trying not to intimidate me?
By not doing good in College? I don't think people view College the same way that you do.

Are they confusing graduate school with undergraduate school?
I don't think I am; I can't imagine what graduate school will be like(I assume it will suck).

So here is my honest opinion:

For me describing College as "hard" would be a massive understatement. I don't think College is hard; I more likely think of College as a living fraking NItemare.

And Heres why:

I have bowel problems. So people respond that "Okay, well everyone gets Diarrhea or Constipation every once in a while so stop you're complaining." Well, the difference is that I get diarrhea or constipation every single damn day and when I have diarrhea I am also constipated at the same time. The diarrhea last about 8-9 times a day and takes around 2-3 hours. The constipation is similar but only takes around 2 hours. I'm not in any way cheating the numbers either; most days it takes me longer than that.

So I am going to add the bowel problem as equivalent to taking 12 extra credit hours. I could argue that it is more like taking 16 extra credit hours; but I don't want to get into the "Thats impossible" argument.

So, lets say I sign up for 15 Credit Hours(Which is average). Adding on the 12 credit hours from the s**t problems it can equate to 27 credit hours.

Now, you see why College can be hard for someone with a Health Problem?

Thats not to mention what happens if I get worried over about a test. If that happens, EVERYTHING gets worse. I took 17 credit hours one semester and the end result was 8 DAYS in the hospital during finals week. I've learned my lesson and I'm never doing that again.

Now; you see why College can be a lot harder for some people than other people? It doesn't have to be the same situation as me(Maybe someone works 30 hours and goes to school full time, or maybe someone just isn't good at taking tests in general so studies for 50 hours per week just to get C's.)

The point is that just because College is easy for you doesn't mean that it is easy for everyone. Think outside the classes and grades; and you will soon see it is harder than you think.

This is OT for this thread, so please redirect me if there's another thread, which I think there might be. Is there a link between gastrointestinal issues and autism? I see it mentioned a lot around here. When I hit my teens till the beginning of my senior year of college, I had chronic gastrointestinal issues that were seemingly random. Now it's much rarer, but I don't know why they disappeared. I made no major changes. But I was wondering if it was AS that brought it on. I don't know why it's gone from a several times daily thing to once or twice monthly though now.

Explain your symptoms before College. I don't know what you mean by "Chronic Gastro-Intestinal Issues" because it is too general/vague.

And yes, I know everything about digestive/gastrointestinal problems. Everything.

College... I graduated in three and a half years with a fairly good GPA, but not wonderful. Studying was the least difficult part of it all. I found my social relationships with people frustrating, confusing, and very distracting. I nearly killed myself at one point because I was just so lost socially. When I left college, I wasn't on speaking terms with many of my 'closest' friends. The stress of socializing with people 24/7 was overwhelming and nearly drove me insane.

I'm doing pretty well in college, i'm talking cisco networking courses which is kinda my obsession so it comes pretty naturally to me. As for the social aspect i'm basically living at home and going to school only when i have classes so i don't have to deal with the drama of being in a dorm. I don't really talk to anyone really so i don't have much toruble with social interactions.