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10-01-2010, 10:52 PM

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Originally Posted by MuRaSaKiiNkI View Post
And people say college prepares you for "real life," it prepares you for Purgatory!
I got news for ya: college doesn't prepare you for jack. It's a cakewalk compared to the real world.
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10-02-2010, 04:46 AM

It depends on what you do and how you apply connections.

A good example is becoming a research assistant as part of one of your programs. Notably, university and college give you some pretty good opportunities to make valuable connections. From there you just go with the flow.
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10-02-2010, 04:46 AM

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Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
I got news for ya: college doesn't prepare you for jack. It's a cakewalk compared to the real world.
Well, you don't know my college, or perhaps your job is more taxing than I would ever want, but writing papers every day, developing theses, studying for four hours each day, taking quizzes, midterms, and final exams, and working at the same time is WAY harder than just going to work. I've worked too, full-time during summer, and payed bills, taxes, etc. Going to college is way harder for me because it's intensive study, with the expectation of doing work outside of class. On top of it, it's very bland because my peers are very much the same (i.e. have similar socioeconomic status). "Real life" isn't difficult if you have a brain, common sense, and patience.
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10-02-2010, 01:23 PM

Swordmaster, Mura, you two are so naive. Ah, to be young again!
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10-02-2010, 03:39 PM

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Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
Swordmaster, Mura, you two are so naive. Ah, to be young again!
And what, praytell, makes "real life" so hard? I would love to be enlightened. ^_^
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10-02-2010, 06:21 PM

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Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
Swordmaster, Mura, you two are so naive. Ah, to be young again!
H-hey! I'll have you know that I am an adult now!
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10-02-2010, 09:17 PM

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Originally Posted by MuRaSaKiiNkI View Post
And what, praytell, makes "real life" so hard? I would love to be enlightened. ^_^
Are you serious?

Kids, family, car and house payments, student loan debt, insurance payments (if you're lucky and don't get denied coverage), the fact that if you lose your job due to the economy you could be royally screwed for years, you have to manage your investments, 401K, IRAs, you have to find someone you trust with your money to invest it for you even though you're still somewhat managing it yourself, if you screw up at work you could get fired and lose your health insurance, you are the sole person responsible for everything you choose to do, there is no simple path from A to B to follow anymore, no one to bail you out of a tough situation, etc.

Not to mention the fact that the average American works something like 50 hours a week. Enjoy trying to have any hobbies when you're working 50 hours and commuting 5 per week.

I doubled majored in abstract math and Japanese and then went to law school after that. Real life is so much harder than any of that, and I don't even have kids yet!

Last edited by KyleGoetz : 10-02-2010 at 09:21 PM.
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10-02-2010, 09:31 PM

Kyle is going to be a dad (someday)!

I figured as much - life gets a lot harder, eh?

However, it all boils down to time, money and knowledge/experience/wisdom. If you can get those three to work out, the rest will fall in. However, in today's world, nothing is quite so simple, as you noted.
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10-05-2010, 12:44 AM

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Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
Are you serious?
In advance, this is long. lol. :P But I think I should stand up for all current college students around the world, and those about to choose between college and real life.

Okay, 1) You assume that I haven't done ANY of those things, and 2) you yourself stated "you are the sole person responsible for everything you choose to do," which goes back to my statement if you (no one else) have a brain, common sense, and patience, you can weather through it. Real Life is what you make it! Actually, life is what you make it, real or imaginary. Thus, I will supply contradictions to your argument of real life, only to say that college and real life have their respectable difficulties, and that some people are better suited to college than real life, and vice versa.

-Kids and family: That's why I'm not going to have kids without being emotionally and financially ready, and the stress along with it will definitely not surpass the joys of having children and a family. And some people don't choose to have families.
-Car and house payments: I don't know what's really stressful about this, unless you don't have the money for it, to that I will say I've gone without eating anything but ramen and mac n' cheese because of tight bills. Plus, I don't plan on buying a car or house until I can afford it. Plus, some people choose not to buy expensive cars or big houses.
-Student loan debt: I have kept track of the loans I need to pay (amounting to $47,000) and have been paying back the interest while I'm in school so it's not compounded with the regular loan and accumulating interest on interest. The reason why I don't worry is that my mom got approximately the same amount from the same company, and she's still paying back, but she still lives her life and goes on vacations to NY. So...I don't see the reality in freakin' out, honestly.
-Insurance: Already pay car insurance, and I know health insurance is a kicker, but my parents, once again, show me it's possible to manage all these things pretty well. And once again, you can choose to have the basest insurance possible (but I admit there is no legal choice now to have NO insurance)
-Losing a job: Never lost a job yet, unless you count the times I consciously quit, and I plan to be my own boss for the sole purpose that I am not fired by anyone but myself, lol :P It also depends on what kind of job you get after college, I'm going to teach English abroad in various countries where I can walk to my job or ride the subway, and my room is already paid. In this situation, if you have a job that's needed by a society, I believe you can find work anywhere. Or, you can change your career, which is a common occurrence, actually, the average times being three career-changes in a lifetime.
-Investments: If by "investments" you mean cars, house, stocks, bonds, etc., I don't rely on anyone but myself to pay for these things or manage them. If I don't know how, I'll ask someone who does rather than pay out the hole for something I could very well just learn. Plus, it's common sense not to bite off more than you can chew.
-50 hours a week: Um...I've worked 70hrs/week during summer for a seasonal job as a supervisor, saving up money for Japan. Yeah it's hard, but not as hard as people think. It's definitely not as stressful as worrying about college and what that means for your future career and livelihood. If you're a better worker than student (which I am) no matter how many hours you get, it's not that bad. And, if you get a job you enjoy, which I plan to do upon my life, it doesn't feel like 50 hours.

Yeah, I already know it's not a rainbow ride, but college is another entity entirely with its own joys and tribulations, and I think we can both agree on this. College requires a structured mind that is used to intensive intellectual thought that analyzes EVERYTHING while listening to the opinions of other people and developing your own opinion, I don't have that, and I struggle with completing assignments I frankly do not care about in the least, and yet am required to address. It's also a time of uncertainty and tension, to think about what you are going to do after graduation is frightening, even to someone as laid back as me. To have professors dish out more and more assignments without pause or even, sometimes, reason, is stupid.

The only replica I can think of this in real life is an office job, and heaven forbid if I get that with my Bachelor's! The whole system of points awarded by how much you can regurgitate based off what the professor says is bogus, and those points suffocating you with guilt and needling you with anxiety in the dead of the night because you suddenly realize that your life is dedicated to forced education for four (or five, six, seven) years...etc. It's like I said, Purgatory, filled with pointless trials that one does in order to reach Heaven, which is Real Life--where I can live in my own house, make my own rules, and don't have to do one more sheet of scribbling nonsense for the rest of my life. This is why for some people college is difficult and Real Life is a piece of cake.

What it takes to live in the real world requires one thing, and college requires another thing. Based off your argument of real life, I have retaliated by saying some people find real life not much of a big deal, like, the people who live it every day. You say real life is harder, I say it's about the same. I've never relied on anyone to do anything for me. I don't like accepting help, even when I haven't eaten for a week to save money to pay bills, I don't like it. It hurts my pride as an individual.

I think people who take life in stride, who are not afraid of challenges, and have an optimistic outlook, will do fine in "real life." Yeah, it can have it's headache moments, but it's not going to kill you with stress. The support for my argument is all around me, and in you yourself, real life is life. Period. This is my reasoning to saying college is like Purgatory, and Real Life is what you make it. In real life, you have many choices concerning houses, cars, and forms of insurance and investment, but one you're on college, there's only two options: sink or swim. And you gotta work to swim at my school. College is easier because of the structured environment, and harder because of the lack of freedoms, real life is easier because of the freedoms, and harder because of the lack of structure. I'd have freedom over structure any day. Although, I can agree with you that sometimes Real Life can be Hell :P

If you still stick to your guns and believe real life is harder than college, Kyle, we can at least agree, if anything, that college does not prepare someone for real life, right?


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KyleGoetz (Offline)
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10-05-2010, 01:19 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by MuRaSaKiiNkI View Post
If you still stick to your guns and believe real life is harder than college, Kyle, we can at least agree, if anything, that college does not prepare someone for real life, right?
Yes, we can agree on that. Although probably for different reasons. I think college was just so spectacularly easy.
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