Yesterday I drove up to Reno, skiing a little bit on the way up. I'd arranged to meet a couple of former students (now UNR students) for dinner at Circus Circus, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did.
They've already figured college out. They both said how college is "on you"--no one cares if you go to class or not, if you do your work or not, if you do well in the classes or not. Personal time management (e.g., not procrastinating) and personal responsibility have been the most important things they've learned.
One made a very specific point. He said that there's plenty of time to party, you don't need to go to college to party. Those that do, those that can't stand their classes and are only there for the social aspect of it, aren't learning anything. His point was that you should study what you like so that you look forward to going to class; that will help build the sense of responsibility to actually go.
We agreed that partying is fun now, but when it's over you have nothing more than a nice memory that will no doubt fade with time. You could have the same experience partying after working as a shopping cart gatherer at your local grocery store, you don't need to pay the high cost of tuition to experience that. Getting an education, though, lasts forever--and you can still party on weekends.
I'd say they're coming along just fine for freshmen.
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