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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. 

#1

Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

lesbianshepard Report

maka paka
Community Member
1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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

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    #3

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    julliiab Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Perhaps your soulmate is in the administration building.

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    #4

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    alexiaconsolato Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nothing traumatized me more in college than having to take 2 math classes due to a "general education" requirement. And one of them was freakin' calculus! I still can't believe I passed it :D

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    #5

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    Kishan_388 Report

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    #6

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    wonderstar42 Report

    james stevenson
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dying of thirst in the desert: "Well, at least we aren't in middle school."

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    #7

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    mydogpaige Report

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    #9

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    hedaswarrior , hedaswarrior.tumblr.com Report

    François Bouzigues
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I did it. All it take is discipline and not getting hammered the day before. No big deal

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    #10

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    ninnani Report

    Cat Chat
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Update: oops, I was just in the cafeteria

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    #11

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    liv_reed17 Report

    james stevenson
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Workplace relations the next year discussed the "Trail mix incident"

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    #12

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    gabrielllarosee Report

    Themoonprincess
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why is this so true though? Can someone explain. Is it because of aging?

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    #13

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    Aerocles Report

    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I am 61, with a PhD, was a professor for 20 years and I still have those dreams!

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    #14

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    06fordexplorer Report

    Alexandru Bucur
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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...

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    #15

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    alexuslemasters Report

    Marcos Valencia
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    First, ask her if one of their parents owns the company where her "dream job" would be located. One never knows.

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    #16

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    chloeestell Report

    E2U&U2
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

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    #17

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    thisbegrm Report

    Gustav Gallifrey
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is something that college/university DOES teach you: you're not the hot-shot you thought you were, lower your expectations.

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    #18

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    _supersergio Report

    howdylee
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

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    #19

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    thedreamghoul Report

    DetriMentaL
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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"

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    #20

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    Caityy_Walter Report

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    yep. No-one cares. Just get through the course.

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    #21

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    c_jonaitis Report

    Firstname Lastname
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We do this during staff meetings. It's totally weird when someone sits somewhere out of the ordinary.

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    shankShaw deReemer
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So, so true! My students almost always sit in the same spots. Some even arrive early in order to secure, as Sheldon Cooper would say, their "spots."

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just try bookng a seat on a british train. Very low chance that you get the seat you actually booked.

    Book Nerd (she/her)
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That happens in high school too in my experience. If there’s no seating, everyone will work out where they want to sit, and they usually stick with it. With the exception of a couple of kids who float around.

    Angrykitten
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I still think about a student I sat beside in into to astronomy back in 2001. We talked every week, but never exchanged info.

    Rahb in Oz
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Same at work. Hot-desking simply does NOT work. People are creatures of habit and like to have their own space. Try going home to a different bed in a different house every night!

    Lotekguy
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One high school teacher determined the seating chart every 6 weeks by placing us in the order of our most recent grades. That would probably not be allowed today, labeled as shaming. But it motivated this slothful student to absorb more than in other classes. Several decades later, hers is one of the few faculty names that come easily to mind. In a good way.

    FaceTime Audio
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Assigned seating in high school is THE BEST and I always hated it when teachers would change the seating chart. Nuh-uh, that's my chair! I am always in that chair, and I like that chair! My feeble mind can't take the change.

    Dread Pirate Roberts
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    THIS lol I think it gets programmed into us at a young age, so we get so used to it being the norm and do it as adults too 😆

    Wren
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My class: why can't we make our own seating chart? Like, we will sit there every day but we want to choose where we sit every day.

    Oskar vanZandt
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Okay, Sheldon, take a chill pill...

    mysterious(all pronouns)
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm in highschool, and pretty much every class lets you sit wherever you want.

    That Person
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Except it’s middle school vs. high school

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    #23

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    collegeproblem Report

    Matt Parker
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This has carried on post-college for me...

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    #24

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    JefferyWerkins Report

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    wow that's advanced. Our idiots are still emailing attachments around with no version control.

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    #26

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    jazz_inmypants Report

    Giraffy Window
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is the most nutshelled nutshell I've ever read.

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    #27

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    Dtxmarcellee Report

    #28

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    verysmallriver Report

    tw 72
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Serious: One of my professors escaped out of East Germany and came to the US. Gives you a whole different perspective on life.

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    #29

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    tavonga_chinez Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Heh, some of my college photos, taken in the dorm room, do have visible collections of empty wine bottles sitting on top of the wardrobe, like they are trophies :D

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    #31

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    fayvourite_ Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sometimes I do this on work meetings, e.g. "(colleague) sneezed twice."

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    #32

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    st_akshay Report

    me myself and i (she/her)
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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?

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    #33

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    svmplyv Report

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    #34

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    tcm97 Report

    #36

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    mmt2016_ Report

    Gustav Gallifrey
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    'No boys past 2am'? Is that code for 'your boyfriend can do anything you both consent to under this roof, except wake up here'?

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    #37

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    TerriAmaya Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Feels like a minor annoyance in high school... but like vile torture in college.

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    #39

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    christenrhule Report

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    #40

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    College WiFi.

    i_exist_666 Report

    #41

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    introvertsmemes Report

    ADZ
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Miss the days of eating random junk whenever because you're pope, gain no weight, not constipated from it and your body doesn't feel like it's dying because you skipped veggies for a day.

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    #42

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    PollyBloom21 Report

    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

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    #43

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    yellidotj Report

    Passerby
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    To be fair, classes in college are harder and likely longer. For example, some of my classes back then were 3 hours long, with small break in-between. So I could only take like 2 classes max a day.

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    #45

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    freejimmer Report

    Corvus
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One thing that was better than high school was that people's opinions of you mattered less and less as time went on.

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    #46

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    Jmags1012 Report

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    #47

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    juliarpeterson Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

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    #48

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    DrewLindler Report

    Wubedhheij
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

    #49

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    delaneyaby57 Report

    me myself and i (she/her)
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    imagine if the answer was false... or maybe this is reverse psychology to make them choose false...

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    #50

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    TylerHickman9 Report

    ScarletRos
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I spun out when we were allowed to drink wine in one evening class.

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    #51

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    9mialee Report

    nini
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh I would be highly interested in this lesson

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    #52

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    sopheezus Report

    Charles McChristy
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is actually a brilliant tactic, and one I wish I knew when I was still taking classes.

    #53

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    ColIegeStudent Report

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    #55

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    ColIegeStudent Report

    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That's why you go to office hours! To ask about your grade so far!

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    #56

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    og_jaydee Report

    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And then the professor just says, "And this next part will be on the final......"

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    #57

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    darealkykilla Report

    Passerby
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Pray for me too. Nothing's wrong, I am just existing.

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    #58

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    mcelizabeth97 Report

    Lyone Fein
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yes. You will need note sharing buddies. In case you miss class.

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    #59

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    dustypeeps Report

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

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    #60

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    persianthoughtz , x.com Report

    Milady Blue
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oddly enough, outside of high school and college, no one will EVER ask or even CARE about your grades.

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    #63

    Things-You-Dont-Learn-In-High-School-College

    kailamick7 Report

    Wubedhheij
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just break up with them. Don't be controlling.

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