45 Funny Things They Never Tell You In High School But That You Learn Instantly In College
Middle and high school are full of constant references to the nebulous world of college, where iron-willed professors typically rule over the student body. Then you get there and everyday occurrences seem to be taken out of discarded sitcom scripts.
Netizens share their hilarious, chaotic and relatable thoughts on what going to college is really like. From zany professors, terrible diets to academic burnout and late night shenanigans, get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples and be sure to add your own thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
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In my previous profession a guy who was on the fast track nearly lost his job becaues of this outlook, was tasked with training up 6 individuals and told them if all of them pass he's not doing his job. Failed ALL of them because they didn't do the exam in the order he told them and was booted from training people forever. What a b*****d
I had one of these at university. A statistician. He was a dîck. He's dead now. No correlation.
No correlation between being a statistician and being a dîck? Between being a statistician and being dead? Or between being a dîck and being dead?
Load More Replies...Some classes just are pretty hard, even if the professor is good. Different subjects - different difficulty.
I mean yes and no. For a difficult class it is all about hard work but a good professor has things explained well so that you can learn. You need to study a lot but you can because everything has been provided to you. As opposed to having messy lectures with too little information provided about the most important and complicated aspects. Or I've even had professors who would not mention things on purpose to prove that we are lazy or that we should have found ourselves a different degree because we're clearly unprepared. Which doesn't make any sense and I'm talking about stuff as simple as just writing down a formula so we can follow the whole exercise actually but no. So I think even if the subject is difficult, a professor who would make it harder than it has to be is not a good professor. Even if they don't want you to fail, they are just not committed enough to take some time and write additional steps or more examples so that you can better understand literally anything
Load More Replies...Professors who brag like this are doing it precisely to get people to drop their class. They want fewer exams and papers to grade.
I couldn't agree with this more. Some professors forget that we're paying through the nose (some for years) to be properly taught/trained. They are providing a paid service. If I wouldn't tolerate that haughty attitude from a store clerk, I sure am not tolerating it from someone I'm spending thousands of dollars on.
I had a psych professor at USC-Columbia who gave t-shirts to the three highest grade earners, which he had to curve two letter grades from the get-go. He wrote the textbook as well. He was a real PRiCK and he knew it. I barely passed. Steer clear of professors who write the course textbook. ARGH!
Personally I've experienced the flip side of your textbook dilemma - many of my profs wrote their textbooks and gave out the pdf for free rather than publishing it
Load More Replies...I've had High School teachers like this. Unsurprisingly, I wouldn't pass their class.
On the other hand, when the instructer tells you there are no adjectives in accounting, believe him.
had a professor that did this kind of announcement first class. it was for an english class. but, he followed up with the fact that if we stuck through it we would become effective writers. class had 28 students that day. next day, there were six. he was right. it was tough but he was fair.
True! I used to tell my students that it was a lot of material and it was a lot of work and it was the most fun class in the entire program. At the end of every semester, they agreed. And almost all of them passed and did well! (Still makes my heart happy.)
I had a law professor that on his first class told us that his course is the most difficult to pass ...oh well we all passed apart from a fellow student that dropped the law school to become a full time chef. Yep his food is marvellous btw
In a lot of disciplines classes are deliberately extra hard and they let you know up front. Fields like engineering and medicine try to weed out those who won't succeed very early, so the lower level classes are designed to to fail a certain amount. The comment on how hard it is to pass is to put you on notice that if screw around and waste their time you won't be passing, they need maximum effort. By second or third year the entire vibe is different.
Different subjects have different difficulties and for some the warning is appropriate. The pass rate of the NY bar is 42%. I took graduate Optics with 11 other students. Only 1 person passed and it was their 2nd time taking the course. They helped make the JWST. No one can be talented in every field and there is no shame in admitting your limitations.
Had a professor that was delusional and thought we lived in the matrix so any idea around that he based subjects on. He eventually quietly got fired as student evaluation got introduced at this time. I was one of only 25 of 176 students to pass (barely), glad I loved and repeat watched the matrix growing up.
My only problem here is that the person writing the note has the common, but erroneous belief that classes, especially the more difficult ones, are for "conveying information". They are about learning how to think. They are about acquiring new tools for analysis and understanding material. That being said, the point of a class is to teach as many as you can. If most of the class is failing that means that either you are a crappy teacher or the material is not appropriate for the level that most of the students are at.
The college English classes I teach are tough, but if students do all their work and are typically doing their best, 9/10 times, they're going to pass. Little to no work=a failing grade.
College is meant to be hard. Even with a good professor. If it were easy, everyone would have a degree. Stop being so sensitive.
The son of a friend of mine was having trouble in a course. The father drove down to campus to talk to the professor, and the professor asked him "How many times has your son taken this course?" "Why, this is his first time," replied the father. The professor said "Oh, it usually takes two or three tries to pass this class." And he was thought that was something to be proud of.
His daddy went and talked to the professor? And the professor didn’t push him out the door with a firm “I cannot discuss a student’s academic performance with anyone other than the student”?
Load More Replies...LOL - many professors we know (hubby was one for 40 years) pull this stunt the first day just to weed out the slackers and people looking for an easy ride. Then they normalize after the non-serious drop. This way they can let waitlisted students in that really want to be there. We laugh about it.
Dying of thirst in the desert: "Well, at least we aren't in middle school."
I did it. All it take is discipline and not getting hammered the day before. No big deal
Workplace relations the next year discussed the "Trail mix incident"
Why is this so true though? Can someone explain. Is it because of aging?
I am 61, with a PhD, was a professor for 20 years and I still have those dreams!
As a non-American I had to google what the ACT was and then went into a rabbit hole of googling SAT vs ACT . It feels alien because round my parts we all take the same test, the "bac" short for "baccalauréat", an exam instituted in France by Napoleon himself in 1808 and then widely copied continent-wide under many different names. As it happens, in my country, Romania, it's named the exact same. And that's just to finish high-school and get your diploma. And then, because I decided to be an architect, I had to take an extra admission exam specifically for that university. And for the latter, I even remember the date: September 9, 2001. You can probably guess why I remember it - the next day after the test I went out with friends to celebrate, got back early in the morning and slept until 3 something PM. Walked in the living room just in time to see the second plane hit the WTC...
First, ask her if one of their parents owns the company where her "dream job" would be located. One never knows.
I went to a college with more students than my entire town's population. Overwhelmed, on the first day I stood in the quad with a map in my hand crying. Finally, someone stopped and asked me what was the matter. I said I couldn't find my class, and they said, that's nothing to cry about and walked away.
This is something that college/university DOES teach you: you're not the hot-shot you thought you were, lower your expectations.
My college had "Happy Friday Guy". Dude riding on an electric scooter (like Razor brand stand up scooter, no seat), dressed in a superhero cape & eye mask. Shouting as loud as he could around campus "HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!" Someone eventually gave him a Tshirt with the official HFG logo superman style. We loved him.
I still wonder what happened to 1000 word essay on Byzantian Christianity me 10 years ago and me now that takes a day to reply to "wyd"
Do this in the breakroom at work too. Throws the whole room off when a newbie doesn't know better and everyone moves their seat because of it.
wow that's advanced. Our idiots are still emailing attachments around with no version control.
I'm about to be a freshman... for high skl--everything comparing HS to college here is making me nervous, is it really that bad?
'No boys past 2am'? Is that code for 'your boyfriend can do anything you both consent to under this roof, except wake up here'?
More students should use office hours. It's a great opportunity to stand out in the professor's mind, to get your questions addressed, to earn participation points, to get one-on-one tutoring, and to get hints about how to most effectively study the course material.
At the end of my last year of college my advisor (and professor of several of my classes) didn't get tenure even though she'd been there quite a while. (Which is a bad thing for professors) So she basically just stopped teaching.
Same with middle school. Elementary teachers: "your middle school teachers won't tolerate anything." The middle school teachers may even be more laid back than my elementary teacher.
imagine if the answer was false... or maybe this is reverse psychology to make them choose false...
This is actually a brilliant tactic, and one I wish I knew when I was still taking classes.
And then the professor just says, "And this next part will be on the final......"
wikipedia is fine. It's MUCH more accurate, technical, and detailed, than Britannica, and it has the original journal citations in the articles. So I (as a former lecturer), accept it.
Oddly enough, outside of high school and college, no one will EVER ask or even CARE about your grades.
I was a college professor for 20 years (in the United States). So, it is definitely true that many professors will treat you, the student, like an equal. Because you are legally an adult and that means that you are now responsible for your own decisions.....So they won't nag you about getting work in on time, or making up missed tests. It is your responsibility to make sure you fulfill the course requirements. And that means that if you get a low grade, that is on you, too.
And one way to treat students as equals is to not have an issue when they skip your classes. They are adults, they can determine whether it is worth attending a professor's class. Some professors' classes are not that important, some profs can't teach. I skipped many classes, I still got my STEM Ph.D.... And I hated when profs would spend the first day of class reading the syllabus to us.
Load More Replies...College is a lot less stressful than highschool, you don't hate everyone in college.
I was a college professor for 20 years (in the United States). So, it is definitely true that many professors will treat you, the student, like an equal. Because you are legally an adult and that means that you are now responsible for your own decisions.....So they won't nag you about getting work in on time, or making up missed tests. It is your responsibility to make sure you fulfill the course requirements. And that means that if you get a low grade, that is on you, too.
And one way to treat students as equals is to not have an issue when they skip your classes. They are adults, they can determine whether it is worth attending a professor's class. Some professors' classes are not that important, some profs can't teach. I skipped many classes, I still got my STEM Ph.D.... And I hated when profs would spend the first day of class reading the syllabus to us.
Load More Replies...College is a lot less stressful than highschool, you don't hate everyone in college.
