I'm going to start asking these random "getting to know you" questions; you guys know all this stuff about me, and I don't know very much about most of you. You don't have to answer, obviously, but I'm just curious.

So did you go to college? If so, where? Did you have fun? Did your degree do you any good? Did you learn anything?

If you're in college now, was the experience all you thought it would be?

(I went to UCLA, 1986-1990, BA in Political Science and English. Jeremy will eventually have some sort of a degree from some sort of an institute of higher education.)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Answers

I went to the University of Texas, '84 - '86. Got a BA in English. When I look back, I kinda regret graduating in 3 years (I tested out of a bunch of required courses) because the classes I took in the last year were the most fun, were finally starting to get interesting. But I was always an overachiever, and I felt that if it were possible to graduate early, then I was obligated to.

I never "partied" or had fun. I loved a lot of my classes, but I had met Paul and we were getting married and moving to New York City, so it seemed like time to move on. I had my wild slutty fun in high school, and I feel like I sort of missed out on the college experience.

I have forgotten all the facts, but learning how to read & write critically, and learning how to learn, are still valuable. I want my boys to go to college and take as long as they want to graduate (or never graduate), taking as many classes as interest them without regard for whether it fits into a degree plan. Guided learning in a classroom setting, despite the occasional tedium and drudgery, is important. I recommend it.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Northwestern University, 1995-1999, was a history major for three years and then at the last minute decided I needed something "practical," so I switched to history education.

I loved college. It was a total blast. Especially because I grew up in a podunk town in southern Ohio -- coming from that background, Chicago was like, total culture shock. But it was great! There was so much to do, I met so many people, I had so much fun. Chicago is a happenin' town.

I would also say that college isn't so much about learning academic stuff (though that's a big part of it, granted) as it is about learning more about life and how to live on your own. At least, it was for me.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of Connecticut, from the September after I graduated from high school (1986) for nine semesters (two majors: History, then English last minute). I lived on-campus the whole time and had a grand time, but I might not have enjoyed it so much if I hadn't had a single room for effectively six semesters.

My degrees (I went back and got a second BA, in women's studies, just because I loved the place so damned much I couldn't leave) haven't done my *career* much good, but they did my head a lot of good and I feel like I have betrayed them and my former self's effort by not being a feminist writing diva. Yes, I have issues.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to San Francisco State, 1972 - 1977, and got a BA in History.

It was fun because I was living away from home for the first time (I'm from southern California) and my mother and I really needed to be apart from each other. I did party and wasn't a very good student, but I'd never been a very good student (despite being smart - the bane of my mother's existence). I lived in the dorms for two years which was hard in some ways because of the noise and distraction, but nice in others because of the easy social contacts. It's a lot easier for me to just go down the hall and hang out with someone than to think of something to do and call them up and suggest doing it.

I didn't even do drugs or drink much then, so my partying was pretty lame.

It was also a scary time because I was living away from home for the first time and, I now realize, I had some real problems that I probably should have been talking to a therapist about.

College was a good experience for me because it taught me to do research and think critically (even if I get lazy now) and because it exposed me to a lot of different people and viewpoints (even if I didn't change my mind about some of them.)

I think it's good to have a few years before you have to face the "real world" - at least for me it was a refuge from the "real world". My parents supported me for the first couple of years and mostly supported me the rest of the time. I know it isn't like that for a lot of people.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to the University of Toronto but fled part-way through my degree (B.A. Religious Studies/Anthropology). I'll probably go back to school at some point, just not yet, and not for my original major. I should have studied English.

I had a pretty good time overall. I met the people who will be my best friends forever, no matter how far away we get physically (right now we're spread out over Canada, Belgium, Japan, Scotland and New Zealand). In retrospect I should have gone to class more often though.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of Washington, 1975-1979, Music (choral conducting). No degree due to my failure to complete (or in some cases sign up for) the science and math part of the general requirements. I had a fabulous time in college, loved every minute, wish I'd had the personal discipline to struggle through the science and math so I could actually graduate.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I'm on the ten year plan at San Jose State right now; just turned in my graduation packet last week for this coming December. Woohoo! BA is in Psychology, and minor is in Comparative Religious Studies (which really only qualifies you for a managerial job at the Gap). I'm pushing straight on to the MBA program, also at SJSU. I've been doing accounting forever so I might as well get paid decently for it.

Fun? Nah, not in the conventional sense. I've been on my own since I was about 16, so I've been too busy trying to keep a roof over my head and food on the table to do the "traditional" college stuff. It's been fun in the sense of learning new stuff. I've studied varieties of Paganism (Vodou, Santeria, Native American traditions). That was the highlight of my college experience.

What I've noticed over the course of "higher education" is that aside from learning the academic stuff, college is a microcosm of life. There are some things you have to do just because you have to do them, not because they're going to do you a lot of good in the end.

Is it what I thought it would be? Yeah, more or less. I didn't go to school to get away from restrictive parents, and I've never been a big partier. Didn't really get involved in the whole college scene. If I had it to do all over again, I'd've gone pre-med or straight into the Nursing program (always wanted to be a midwife). C'est la vie.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I'm a freshman in college right now at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma.

No, college isn't what I thought it would be, but then again I'm still living at home (the school is about an hour commute, and I wound up receiving $1300 a semester since I didn't use the dorm scholorship). I also work 40 hours a week and I am taking 19 hours at school, so I have no time to meet anyone. And commuting sucks because I will meet someone who lives on campus, and I would love to hang out with them, but drive an hour one way? I do it every day.

I'll only be there another year, then I'm heading out to some other school. Hm.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

That seems like all I do, go to college: B. Sc. from University of Toronto 1989, Ph. D. from UC Berkeley 1996, been in a postdoc at Brown University since then, and am headed for another postdoc at UCLA this summer.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I was an idiot (man, I'd like to be able to go back in time and smack the hell out of the 18 year-old me) and didn't go to college right out of high school. Instead, I did a lot of partying, met a military man, and got pregnant at the age of 19. After we got married and I had my daughter, I took classes on and off, but never enough to get a degree. I keep claiming I'm going to go back to school one of these days, but the truth is that sitting in a classroom is one of the things guaranteed to make my mind go numb almost as fast as my butt does from sitting in those hard wooden chairs.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Air Force Academy, class of '81. "Fun" is not the word I'd use to describe it, but then it's most definitely not your typical college experience. BS in International Affairs, specializing in the Soviet Union/Russia. Learned a lot; the degree gave me knowledge about and insights into a country I still find fascinating. The experience at the Academy taught me far more than classrooms ever could.

Got first Master's (in Public Administration) going part-time to Troy State University while I was stationed in Europe - they were one of the contract schools for the military there. This degree has done nothing for me.

Currently working on second Master's (Technical and Science Communication) at Drexel University, again going part-time while I work full-time. I'll graduate next spring, at which time I hope to find a job in the tech writing field. I'm really enjoying this Master's program (at my age, I wouldn't have gone back to school if I didn't enjoy it).

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to what in the U.S. is called a community college - I think...

Anyway - I did a year of theatre tech which was murder; I loved it but the 14 -18 hour days were killing me. So the next year I went for journalism and completed the two year course. We produced a weekly newspaper, a bi-annual magazine, and I helped to launch the first online editions of both.

I had *oodles* of fun. My classmates during the theatre thing were great (drank lots of beer) and my classmates during the journalism stint have become life-long (so far) friends - and also drank lots of beer. Journalist types tend to party quite a bit - this included my teachers - so there was always something happening. And yeah, it was pretty much what I thought it would be. Although the kids in college (as opposed to university - it's a Canadian thing) were generally straight out of highschool and therefore 17 or 18 years old. I was in my early 20's already - so it was a bit of an adjustment.

I ended up with a diploma, and actually landed myself in web design for three years, completely by accident. In school we had to take a class called 'Internet Research for Journalists' and the teacher insisted we learn some basic HTML. The summer before I graduated, my step dad found out that I knew some html and I ended up getting a summer student position at his company doing websites for pest control operators. After I graduated, they hired me on full time. That was 3 years ago!

Just a couple of months ago, an Editing position opened up at Microsoft - contract, and it's copy-editing courseware, but it's in the right direction for my actual *career* and all.

If I'd continued on in the web design, I could have made buckets of cash. In fact, I had another job lined up at the same time as this one, at almost twice the salary.

But you know, I was kind of sick of the pressure in the web thing and I'd already been doing it for a few years and I was also a bit behind on the technology and I figured that it was about time I got started on what I really wanted. And the whole pest control thing was a big compromise - compromising my morals and beliefs and all that important soul stuff.

So I guess my college did me good. And I enjoyed it. I wish I'd been able to go to University and get my English B.A. - I'd dreamed of doing that for years - but I seem to have gone down the right road, and I can always take evening classes at the U here in Seattle.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of Texas, BFA Acting.

Only took 4 1/2 years. But my life now isn't that different than college. Oh, I sleep even less, if that's possible. Same friends (mostly), same crazy schedule, multiple jobs, loans, bills, and a sense of trying to make it.

I guess more people know who I am in this town now than they used to.

And the food is better.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Louisiana State University and University of Southwestern Louisiana then LSU again (I have a hard time making up my mind).

The first two years I was in college I was a typical "I'm 18 and finally out of my parents' house" student. Meaning I was basically a nonexistent, perpetually hung-over student. After two years, I took a two year break and finished the rest in a year and a half. My junior- senior grades more than made up for my failing grades at the beginning of college but it still brings down my overall GPA. And that's terribly hard to overcome when a soul is trying to get into graduate school. I really enjoy school now--I actually miss it.

I have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. It is practically impossible to get a job in this field with only a bachelors, so grad school is pretty much required for me. However, I have lucked out and have been working for the past two years for a clinical neuropsychologist. I administer all psychological testing--from neuropsychological evaluations to sanity/competency evaluations for capital murder cases. About half of my work time is spent in prisons. This job functions as a sort of internship--I plan to study neuropsychology in graduate school.

My degree has done very little for me--everyone and thier brother has a psychology degree these days and graduate schools are very competitive, especially in Clinical Psychology (average of three years of applying before acceptance) and I'm on my second year of applications (no luck this year, either, got my last rejection letter two days ago). It is all of the work post-B.S. that has been helping. Two research projects, participation in state conventions, preparing original research for publication--these will be the things that eventually get me into a program.

Third time is a charm, right? Maybe next year!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I'd just like to say that it makes me happy that y'all are such a diverse bunch. You meet an awfully homogenous bunch of people in law school ... the vast majority of students went to college right out of high school (on Mom and Dad's dime), and law school right out of college. It took me a few years out of law school before I started to encounter any people who hadn't gone to college at all, or who had dropped out, or who were still making their way through. I'm especially interested in people who went back to school later in life and got degrees. My dad got his degree in his 40's, on the GI Bill, and my mom got hers at age 52. (Yay, Mom and Dad!)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I graduated from York College of PA in 1997 with a B.S. in Psychology (how fitting) I NEVER pursued Psychology once I left school, therefore, it's become the most expensive piece of paper I own.

I LOVED college, every second of it, if I had it to do over though, I'd study more, and party a little less. I graduated in 4 years (even though I transferred to York my junior year) I met people that shape the way I look at life, and some of my best friends ever.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

BS Political Science - also two year thing in Computer Science and one-year law thing. Hated school and my parents (with good reason), so I dropped out of high school in 1969 with straight A's, and did not go back to school till 1980, when my daughter was 9.

Took me forever to finish all the units for the stupid BS,working and going to school part time off and on for about 14 years. Hated sitting in classes, tested out of about two years worth of the four years. Still took me forever though. The only class I ever really *enjoyed* in college was Film History.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

The University of Texas at Arlington (not the big esteemed one in Austin, but the little goofy one in the Dallas area) for a number of years that I'm not sure I want to share. Remember the line in Animal House when John Belushi says, "Seven years of college down the drain!"? I once thought that was a funny line.

Okay, then. Nine years, on and off from 1986 to 1995. And no completed degree, although I believe I had enough hours to be a tenured professor.

First I was a Music Education Major. Then I changed to Music (Trombone) Performance. I toyed with a minor in Russian or History. Then I left music altogether and changed my major to English. I am now unhirable in such a wide variety of fields.

I'm pretty close to some sort of degree, so I might just give Southern Connecticut State University a go next year. Or I might just keep slacking merrily along until I die of old age...

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Am now at University of St. Thomas in Houston and *love, love, love* it. Wish I had started here instead of McNeese State in Louisiana. I thought I'd died and gone to hell. Wasn't my choice to go there and fought tooth and nail not to go. (Wanted to go to Texas Tech.) The school was a pit and after having gone to an excellent high school, I just didn't fit in.

My goal is to graduate from St. Thomas by the time I have my 10 year high school reunion in 2002. (Right now, I should do it a semester early.)

Degree - International Studies. Love it. Learning so much. Go to school full time & work full time - wish every day I could retire and go to school fulltime. Am still trying to figure out what to get my master's in. Am having my mid-life crisis a bit early - wondering what I'm doing with my life and where to direct myself in the future.....

Oh! I highly recommend a private, religious school. I'm NOT a fanatic, but I really feel like I'm getting a quality, well rounded education. Don't just learn about Christianity, but philosophy & other religions. Most amazing is how much religious references are edited out of public schools. I've learned more in 2 semesters at St. Thomas than I ever dreamed. Excellent school.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to the University of Guelph from 1984-1990. Year one was in a BSc(Agr) that you apply to veterinary school from, the second year was what they call "Pre-Vet" and then four years of veterinary school at the Ontario Veterinary College. It was a pretty diverse bunch as most people don't get into vet school right away and our class of 100 ranged in age from 19-40.

I found all the lecture time boring though, so I rescheduled my labs and worked at the racetrack F/S/S/M and went to class T/W/T. (Surprise...I *can* read the textbook on my own!) I mostly lived off campus on a horse farm with my dogs for the first five years. Final year was all practical stuff and I had to live right in town for on call rotation and there was no more skipping school..

I had more fun at the track then I did at the university!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

B.B.A. from Mississippi State University in 1988. Studied way too much. Had fun playing in the band but that is about it.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I was bumped up a year at school, and was 16 when I finished. I probably wasn't best equipped to be deciding what to do with my life, but like any good little NZer I headed to university - Massey University in Palmerston North, to be precise (like any of you know where Palmerston North is!). I did my first year of a BA in English and History. I completely buggered around. After the first year I moved to Wellington and took a year off - supposedly a 'get my shit together' year. As I was still way too young it didn't really work, but I did learn to type. I then spent a year at Victoria University of Wellington in a part time year while working part time. I decided university wasn't for me. It cost a lot - I felt bad for my parents paying when I was quite obviously not committed to studying. I resented the way lectures were taught - we'd cover 8 plays in a brief manner rather than 4 plays thoroughly, and that to me wasn't good. And I thought a lot of it was a load of bunkum anyway. I didn't rule out ever finishing my degree, but I vowed to only study again when I had something specific to study, rather than buggering around.

So, last year I toyed with the idea of moving into HR, and started my IPD (a post-graduate qualification which is essential to work in any HR field in the UK). The first module is drawing to a close - I've been in a blind panic for the past fortnight, finishing my assignments, and my exams are at the end of May. The first module has been general management with a bit of a personnel slant, and it's shown me that general management is cool, whereas functional HR (recruitment and such) is rather dull. So this September I'm going to cross-credit what I've done so far into a Business Studies honours degree through the University of Westminster.

It's really hard, studying while working ten hour days, and I wish sometimes I'd had a bit more guidance when I was 16/17, so I had latched onto Business Studies earlier. However, I know I do not learn abstract concepts very easily, and find this stuff easy now because it's tangible - I see the theories all around me (I work in the Executive area of our company, with the senior management).

The IPD stuff has been by flexible learning - one full day workshop a month and the rest via distance learning. My company has let me have the one day a month off, and has paid my fees. I've found distance learning fairly difficult - you need to be very discplined, and I'm not! I'm going to do the degree at nights - it will be three evenings a week for at least the next three years. At the end I want to be able to contemplate an MBA in organisational management, because I want to be able to aim for Managing Director roles in the next 15 years. I don't actually think the degree is always necessary, but I don't want to even be disadvantaged within my career because I don't have one.

It makes me tired just thinking about it all!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I have a B.A. in English/Communications with a Political Science minor from LeMoyne College here in Syracuse, NY. At first, my degree didn't do me much good professionally, but eventually I wormed my way into Marketing and then decided I didn't like it and went back to school. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The most useful parts of my education were the "Jesuit experience". Even though I'm pretty much lapsed in the Catholic department, I do appreciate the required philosophy, religion and history courses now. If nothing else, I do well on Jeopardy. I was in the Honors program, so instead of taking separate courses, we had one big course each semester that combined philosophy, religion, history, art, literature, etc. by time period, and that was a great way to learn, I thought.

Outside the classroom, I did the whole "learning how to be independent" thing that others have mentioned. I did enough partying to feel like I don't need to do it anymore, and that's fine by me. I still have funny drinking stories and I still have a functioning liver and brain, which is a nice balance.

When I decided I wanted to get more into the computer world, I went back to school, and as of next Saturday, I will have a Masters degree. Woo hoo! I think this degree will help me more professionally, while the undergrad degree helped me become a more well-rounded person. Ask me again in ten years.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Smith College 1992-1996 BA French Language and Literature, minor in History.

I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Sure, a lot of crappy stuff went down while I was in college and there were a lot of hard things to deal with.

But I _loved_ being a Smith student.

Like many people, I made some of my best friends there, I figured out a lot of stuff about who I am there and I got one heck of an education, and I didn't even try all that hard.

Despite a lot of the heartache that was bound up with being a college student, I also had a lot of fun, a lot of really good times at Smith and the other colleges in the 5-college area.

I look back at that time with fondness, and at my 2-year reunion, the college president stated something in her graduation day speech that resonated with me: that no matter where we all would go, that we would still be a part of the Smith family. That Smith was a home-away-from-home.

For someone as rootless as I have been, Smith has indeed become a home-away-from-home. When I reach for a stable spot, a place to think of where I belonged, Smith is there, a sort of anchor in the middle of my psyche.

As time goes on, my feelings towards my alma mater may change. But if other alumna, 10, 25, 50 years out, are any indication, they probably will not.

Private, all women's, formerly all-upper-crust institutions of higher learning may not be for everyone. But for me it gave me a community and a time and place to look back on fondly as home.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

MIT from 93 to 97, and now in grad school at Berkeley. I loved being an undergrad, even though I worked far too much. Free time was spent at sports practice, but it was so rewarding that I didn't mind.
Now, however, school isn't so much fun any more. Miss my team, even miss living in dorms, if you can believe that. The "real world" isn't all that it's cracked up to be, as far as I can tell.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Knox College, 1989-1993. I had fun, I had despair, I had pretty much every emotion. A lot of the fun was linked to hallucinogenic drugs, admittedly. Knox is in the middle of nowhere (Galesburg, Ill), with great big empty prairie fields that are conducive to completely losing your mind and running around in nature like a freakazoid.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I have an B.A.M. (Bachelor of Aviation Management) from Auburn University. I attended Auburn from '69 till'73. Is there an SEC school that isn't a good time?I also made some life long friends. After working for a few years and swearing I'd never go back to school, I got an M.S.A. from George Washington University in Washington, DC. The Navy (I work for, but I'm not in the Navy) offered to pay so I took them up on it. Great deal.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I'll be entering my senior year this fall at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. I'll end up with a B.S. and then I'm planning on staying here and getting my M.F.A in electronic arts.

So far, it's been great. I wasn't a big fan of high school, so it was nice to go to a place where I'm not the geekiest of the geeks by a long shot. Of course, there have been problems. Certain ways that things are run academically, certain living situations, but overall, good.

I think I've learned a lot about what I do and do not want to do with my life. Right now, I'm leaning towards teaching... something I NEVER thought I would want to do a few years ago.

I've met a lot of the more important people in my life while here, including my boyfriend. I think things will be even more interesting during the next few semesters when I'm living in an apartment with him and two friends. I have had it with dorm life... blah.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

B.A. in Communications from University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was a blast!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas from '82-'86, with a BA in English. I had planned on marrying my boyfriend, living on his ranch in New Mexico and teaching school at the Indian Reservation. I never once stepped in front of a classroom. Fast forward to now. I live in Dallas and I work as a legal assistant.

I loved going to a small school, but I wish I had taken more computer classes.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, B.A. 1982 in Political Science/Economics. It was/is a small, Quaker, liberal arts school and I loved it. I even spent three months studying in London, spring 1980. Best time of my life.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of Pittsburgh 88-90. No degree. My first choice was NYU, my dad said no way, even when I applied, got accepted and surprised the family with such good news. He basically insisted on a state school. I think he was steering me towards Temple of West Chester Univ. (both here in SE PA). Looking back, that would have been the best idea, but in retaliation I chose Pitt. It's a state school, so I it met his criteria, however it's a 6-7hour ride from home. (ha!) I went in as sort-of pre-physical therapy and changed to Health Care Administration back in the heady days when I believed the system could be changed for the better.

There were more students on campus than people in my hometown, I was in trouble! I got caught up in the social aspect immediately, I was so impressed that such different people existed. Long story short, I took "leave" with all intentions of skipping one semester and returning. That seemed a reality until I moved home to save money and my parents flipped over the "new" me. I was deemed too "irresponsible to return." yikes.

I tried the part-time/night classes thing for a semester, but it was too late I already knew the lectures in Business classes were irrelevant.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

When I was a kid, my family figured I'd go to an Ivy League school on a four-year scholarship. Unfortunately I discovered alcohol and drugs, at the age of 11, and I barely got through high school. Five years later, I went to a community college for two semesters, half-heartedly. I got sober in 1986, and in 1988 my aunt _made_ me go to college (I do not exaggerate here). So I went to George Mason University outside of Washington, DC, where I got a BA in biology. I was 26, and not interested in keg parties or bars, so I didn't interact with other students much at all. I did enjoy some of my classes.

I went to grad school for one semester last year, and nearly washed out! I took the spring semester off, and I hope to go back starting next fall, one little class at a time, to get a Master's in Natural Resources. I have NO idea what I'll do with that. So far, the only thing I've done with the BA is get into grad school. *sigh* My plan was to be a park ranger, and now I've given that up, since my park experience last fall. (It's pretty demoralizing to an ecologically-minded person to spend your days walking through the _woods_ with a gasoline-powered leaf blower on your back.)

It's somewhat comforting to know that there are other "adults" who don't know what they want to be when they grow up. (Old!)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I have a B.A. in Chemistry from Lawrence University. Got into MIT and a couple of other big science schools but the financial aid wasn't good enough so I ended up going to school (and living on campus, thank you!) one mile from my parents' house. This was one of the most positive thwartings of youthful ambitions by fate that could have happened to me (the other was being too out-of-shape for Marine ROTC). So I got to have fun, run a radio station, go to India, major in religious studies for a while, and still come out of it with a perfectly respectable-looking Chemistry degree.

Then I got a Ph.D. in "Biophysics and Computational Biology" from University of Illinois. If you ever want to live in a small Midwestern college town, Champaign is your place to be. It's like Madison with lower rent and cheaper houses. I had so much fun that I almost kept living there forever.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

B.A. in Chemistry, minor in English, from Texas A&M University in 95.

I went to a state school mostly because of the cost and chose A&M over UT in Austin because A&M gave me lots more scholarship money. I wasn't really into the whole partying thing.

I think my favorite year was the first one. I lived in the honors dorm, and I really enjoyed interacting with so many intelligent people who didn't think I was a freak for being smart. I also met my husband then; he lived upstairs.

Personality-wise I didn't really fit into A&M as a whole. Most of campus life revolves around traditions, sports, and binge-drinking. There's even a name for people like me--Two Percenters. This is on the theory that only 2% of the students don't get into that shit. Of course A&M has 40K students, so I could still find friends among the 800 2%ers.

As for college applying to the rest of my life, good question. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I know I want to go to grad school but haven't figured out what in. I know more what I don't want to do. I'm glad I have a science degree--it definitely shaped how I look at the world--but I don't want to be a scientist. Currently I'm a "Senior Research Specialist" in a job where my replacement will probably have both a MLS and a JD.

All in all, I'm glad I went. Mainly, I wouldn't have met my husband. Too, because I was a BA major, I got to take all sorts of cool electives. I almost had enough credits to be a History minor (The History of Nazi Germany was an AMAZING class). I loved meteorology. I took German even though it wasn't required. I took Greek lit and mythology. I miss the sense of intellectual challenge from taking 6 wildly different classes at a time.

I will go back!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I'm going to be out in the middle of Iowa, at Grinnell College, next fall. You probably haven't heard of it (unless you're in the midwest or somthing), but it's a great school, I swear. (I don't know how many times I've said that in the past few weeks.)

Pretty big change for a kid who grew up in suburban Maryland. Everyone thinks I'm nuts. (I think I'm nuts.)

Did anyone else go to a small liberal arts school?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Attended the University of Florida from 93-99. Got my BA in Classics and BS in Psychology in 98, then spent time doing post-bac trying to figure out what to do with degrees in Classics and Psychology.

When I first came, I regretted going to a huge public university. I was afraid of being just another one of the 45,000+ here, and was very close to transferring to some smaller private college. But now that I've been in Gainesville for seven years, I love it. Always new people, always diverse crowds...it's a great experience. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

And my degree actually helped. I'm going to Johns Hopkins for grad school in the fall (cognitive science). Now whether my next degree will be worth something, who knows. Guess I'll find out in five years.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

AB from Illinois College in 1962. I guess I learned things as I got good grades, but I did a lot of socializing and crammed for exams. I thought it was so much fun living in the dorm and having roommates for 4 years as I grew up on a farm 5 miles from town and the high school I went to had only about 40 students. I didn't want to get married right away and wanted to be as "career girl" but had no idea about the business world or any other world for that matter. If you were young, female, pretty, and unmarried they figured you would get married and of course, then in those days, you quit working. So, jobwise, my English major did me no good. My high school typing class was what enabled me to support myself. Finally, I went back to school for all the education courses I needed in order to teach. That didn't work out as I am a pushover with kids and they can see I have no backbone. I did fall into a school librarian position though and found my vocation. In 1986 at the age of 46 I received my MLS from Indiana University and am an academic librarian now.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and got my B.A. in English and Rhetoric (read: Creative Writing) with a minor in Women's Studies in 1995.

It was a strange experience. UIUC is really more of an engineering and computer science school than a liberal arts college. I lived right across the street from NCSA and was turned into a geek when my roommate changed her major to CS and started bringing home members of the programmer crowd.

I learned an awful lot in college, though, and have never regretted my "useless" English degree.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Well, I went to one year of community college. Does that count? My mother soon realized that I was more interested in skipping classes and partying so she promptly stopped paying. I then "took a year off" and then went to a trade school which is how I got the job now.

I wish I would have taken it more seriously. I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if I would have gone away. I would have loved to live in a dorm and meet a whole bunch of people, experience a new scene, etc.. But overall, I'm happy how things turned out.

I fully intend to go back and finish my associates degree - it bugs me that I didn't at least get that. But it gets harder to do once you get older - particularly finding the time if you have a full-time job and family. It'll be a struggle, but one I hope to overcome.

P.S. My husband doesn't understand why I want to go back at all. He doesn't have one and doesn't see why I want to work my butt off to get one. He thinks I want to do it so I can sound snooty and impressive. Far from it.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

The University of Alabama, Class of '95. Journalism degree, music minor.

I loved the hell out of it. It's a great and beautiful school. Roll Tide.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Word, yo: Two Earlhamites in Beth's forum!

(Fight, fight, Inner Light! Kill Quakers, kill!)

Earlham College, Richmond, IN - Class of 94; BA, English (concentration comparitive lit and theory)

I wrote an Epinion of Earlham:

http://www.epinions.com/educ-review-DA8-375C8A5-38D17698-prod4

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada). I did have fun, although I didn't live in residence or party a lot. I had a radio show and some friends, and I liked what I was studying. I spent a lot of time reading in coffee shops. My degree (English, minor in Math) helped me get a job in the arts, though I think any degree would have been fine. Math helps though, because people in the arts are automatically impressed. I get, "Wow, you must be really smart" a lot. My strategy is not to deny this.

Joanne
Parietal Pericardium

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of Central Arkansas - Class of '96 Double Major in Finance and English Lit.

Did you notice how many Lit. majors here? A forum load of freaky people!! :) Even all that reading and writing, and I still try to put a comma after every fourth word. Punctuation kills me.

Big shot, high score on my ACT landed me a nice scholarship for full tuition..... WooHoo!

Partied way too hard my first semester and promptly lost said scholarship due to a whopping 1.49 GPA... WooShit!

Then, after a seemingly endless conversation with my parents, I had to rededicate myself and work trudgingly for 4 years to bring the GPA up to a respectable level.

There were many parties even then, but it wasn't quite like my first semester. Probably the most important thing I learned was that the college I went to was a load of crap. The politics behind the administration sucked like a Hoover Vac. I was also disappointed with the fact that they were trying to teach us what to learn rather than how to learn. That was a really big let-down since I came from a family that did just the opposite.

All in all though, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Okay... maybe for the whole world, but not for just a part of it. :)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA, 1987-1991. Hampshire is a small alterbatuve college in the Pioneer Valley (one of five: Smith, Mt. Holyoke, UMass & Amherst College.) Hampshire was designed for students to develop their own concentration, taking classes at all the colleges, doing lots of independent work & research.

I loved that. And the rural campus was beautful. Pagan Passover in the pine forest....

Academically, I was totally satisfied, studying American Literature and social movements. I even worked for Admissions, touring prospective students & their nervous parents ("You say there are no grades...do students attend classes?") around.

But the independence & hard work Hampshire cultivated also made it hard to feel community, find friends with common interests....

I did make great freiends, and had some fun, but the focus was learning & I did.

Later, I went to SUNY Buffalo for my MLS (library science.)

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

B.A. English, Rutgers University. I quickly learned that I couldn't translate that degree into a real job, so I went back and obtained the necessary credentials for elementary education certification. I taught 2nd grade for almost 10 years until we made a move into an area where the teaching market was dried up.

I've been working at admin. jobs since then. To tell you the truth, I don't really mind it either. Teaching was very stressful. I felt overworked, underpaid, and there was little gratitude expressed by parents or administration. What I do miss is hugging all my charges at the end of the day and listening to a 7 year old talk to me about subject.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I actually was a top student throughout my non-college career, then I decided to pursue my studies at this small liberal arts college in of all places, IOWA! (no offense to anyone, I'm a city gal from TX) I still don't know what I was thinking...

It was a major culture shock for me, the majority of people were from small towns and VERY well off families. The first year was pretty rough because I wasn't sure how to relate to these people, and I hadn't quite found my "niche". Pathetically, I can remember calling my mom on several occasions crying, and asking her to get me outta that cornfield.

Then I discovered the international students. Like me, they were far from home, used to a multitude of cultures, colors, religions, and also couldn't relate to the generic demographics of most people at that school. We all used to hang out like mad, and boy did we have a blast! Actually, we probably did too much "blasting". I eventually found myself partying way too much, and making silly excuses to skip class and hang out with my brood.

So, I ended up dropping out after 3 years, moved to MN and started working. *YAWN*. I've partied, gone out, and drank like a fish...and quite frankly I'm sick and tired of that lifestyle. Thus, I'm going to go back to school full-time this fall. I'm taking a coupla classes at a local community college for the summer, just to get back into the groove of learning, and then I'll be attending yet another 4 year, liberal arts, private school when fall arrives. However, this time I know what to expect, and I'm confident that I'll do well. For those people who've been putting off going back, I suggest taking the plunge, and at least calling an admissions counselor. Once you do that, you'll probably be motivated to actually apply as a transfer.

-Z

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Neither my mom or dad graduated high school, let alone went to college. (Actually, the only person from that generation that went to college was my mom's brother. He majored in English, and now he manages a Dominoes, and recites Shakespeare and poetry to me in a loud, booming voice til I have a headache.) I guess Mom and Dad had their hopes pinned on me, so, being typically me, I dropped out of high school. In retrospect, the only reason I can come up with for making that decision was that I wanted to sleep. I got good grades, and could have gotten into a good college had I wanted to, but I wanted to sleep.

I suppose that there are times that I regret not having gone to college. I probably would have studied Anthropology. I read a lot about it, and find it fascinating. I'm mostly happy. I had a really good job for awhile. Then my boyfriend got a better job, and I decided to stay home for awhile. I'm happy hanging out at the lake with my dog and puttering about in my garden.

My 14 year old daughter is talking about not going to college, or at least not right away. She wants to go to a JC for awhile and decide what she wants to do. She says she needs to find her passion. Smart kid in my opinion. Her dad is already pressuring her about it. (She lives with him). I just told her it's ultimately her decision, and that I'll be proud of her no matter what she decides to do.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I graduated with a BA in Anthropology in 1998, from the University of Saskatchewan. I loved going to school. In fact, I loved it so much that I'm currently at Simon Fraser University (in Vancouver) taking a second Bachelor's in archaeology. (for the record, and everyone should learn this, archaeologists do not dig up dinosaurs. Ever. Those are paleontologists, and occasionally paleoarchaeologists. So don't ask.)

Since my university experience has usually been to avoid as many people as possible, I don't really party a lot. I have fun, though. And while I learned plenty, in my fields I really have to go on to graduate school in order to get a job.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Bachelor of Music in Composition from West Virginia University. ("Let's go, Mountaineers!") Master of Music in same from Bowling Green State in northwest Ohio. This adds up to...a position as a youth librarian. My husband has the same two degrees, but both from WVU. His added up to...a job as LAN technician for a heating/cooling company. Am I missing something here?

I don't regret the time spent, even if the degrees aren't directly making me any money. Those really were some of the best years of my life.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

UC Berkeley, BA Economics.

Despite the fact that I never applied what I learned (all that calculus! all that theoretical work!), I appreciate it and recognize that it has honed my critical thinking skills. You want analysis? I'll give you analysis, baby.

Also took some great English classes and astronomy classes. My only regret is that I should have taken more electives. I should have come into school with an open mind and taken bizarro classes my freshman year. I probably would have ended up majoring in film or astronomy or English, classes that I thought were FUN.

Berkeley was the greatest experience of my life. It was hard, it was demoralizing (at times), it was a challenge. I so did not appreciate it until now.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Went to Oneonta State University in Oneonta N.Y. I don't think anyone has ever heard of it unless you are either from the town of Oneonta or you went to school there. It was a serious party school, I mean like really, really bad. It had some sort of weird reputation for having the most bars per square mile of any town in the U.S. And I would say that it is true. The funny thing is that I never partied there, it just wasn't my thing. I was the one home on the weekends and when my roommates came home I would listen to all of their strange drunken stories. Those four years 1986-1990 were the best of my life so far. I miss that place terribly. B.S.- English Literature- try and take that into the real world with you.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

University of New South Wales, 1993-1997. Escaped with a double major, BA Hons in Film Studies and BA in History. Except for 1996, which was an additional year that bureaucracy forced me to take, most of it rockedand as for '96, if I hadn't done the classes I did that year I wouldn't have been equipped for the Honours year in '97. Had fun and met some good people, but didn't do a vast deal of partying as such. The degree hasn't done me much practical good so far and I never expected it to, I did it for the fun and interest of it. Although, since I'm now doing the film show on 2SER, maybe that can be considered an indirect effect of getting the degree

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

After high school I spent a year of studies at a small Catholic seminary in Boston -- very strict, lots of Latin, silence 21 hours a day, no sex. Then four years college at St. John's Seminary College of Liberal Arts, B.A. philosophy, with concentrations in theology and ancient languages (Latin and Greek). Life at St. John's was like life at any R.C. liberal arts college of the 1950s -- not so strict, Latin only in classrooms, lots of talking, no sex. Graduated 1989, a year of work at a parish in Westbrook, ME, then off to Rome for a few months. Stayed just long enough to learn a little Italian and confirm my impression that I needed another line of work.

A year working at a bank in Maine, into University of Virginia School of Law, out in 1994, work ever since.

Man, some days I really miss the seminary. I miss the time to read things that I cared about, and the tidiness of owning only a few things. I don't think that sex has lived up to its early promise.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

An inconsquential nincompoop wonders what he can be doing here, the emperor having no clothes, shivering in the breeze clattering scabbed knees.

College, what if I never made it? I was out of school fourth grade and spent my years through high school trying to overcome the tragedy of skipping fourth grade. Trying frantically to catch up with my class and never quite suceeding.

I finally quit school and went to work, later on got married and was finishing the job of family raising when I got my High School GED. Some number of years later when a back back made it impossible to do the work that I knew, I was sent to a tech school by state rehab for a year. Took a job in electronic circuit pack testing, worked it for thirteen years and finally retired at age 69.

In all those years I did not become a rocket scientist or a neuro-surgeon but a lot of the work I did seemed to me to be quite productive. In any other than the two preceeding professions mentioned, I probably have done it. Three Southeast Asia tours as a Tech Rep for a company who made aircraft escape systems - - based on the experience and proficiency gathered in their testing department. So, in a way I feel that the overseas trips were in essence an earned college education.

I feel honored that any one of you will take the time to talk to me. Many of the contributors to this thread are people who I read and admire very much.

Guess what ? I am still learning.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

I went to a technical college straight out of highschool. It was interesting...not really fun but I did enjoy my classes. I am now the proud owner of a "Macintosh Systems Administration" & "HTML Programming Specialist" degrees (certification-whatever). I don't know why the HTML degree says programming when techinically it's not a programming language but oh, well. I'm 19 so I don't think I've done badly. I could have gone to a 4 year college but they're so expensive & I couldn't see wasting my parent's money there when I can get basically the same thing in less time for less money at a technical school. If i ever decide to go back to school the credits will transfer.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

BS in materials science and engineering, BS in writing from MIT. Fabulous social experience (stop laughing), fabulous intellectual experience, miserable academic experience (except for the first year when I was in an "alternative" freshman program called Concourse). Research universities do not value teaching. I'm not sorry I did it, though, because having an engineering degree means you can always find work in high tech.

MS in journalism from Columbia, which I loved every minute of.

Now working on an endless PhD in English linguistics. I don't want to say where, because I might want to tell stories about it later. That's why I'm using this obnoxious alumni account on bboards, instead of my usual e-mail. Is there a grad student 'burb? If not, should we start one?

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

The University of Amsterdam - and if you think that sounds like a contradiction in terms, it's because it is. Chaos reigned supreme overthere, with different departments all competing with each other and doing their utmost to get in each other's way, making the students' lives a misery and ruining any chance of a solid education. Eventually, this university would be heralded as the absolute worst in the country, and rightfully so. I studied Dutch linguistics and literature from 1987 to 1991 before I ran out the door screaming from sheer frustration. Thankfully, there were lots of extracurricular activities. I joined the editorial staff of the freshmen introduction committee (if that conjures up images of hazing, rest assured - there was nothing of the sort going on.) and stayed there for about three years, gaining more than enough journalistic experience in the process to fully compensate for the deplorable state of affairs as far as education was concerned. This experience eventually led to the job I'm doing right now. Besides, the committee gave me the chance to explore the Amsterdam nightlife to the fullest. And that was very educational indeed.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Come on, I know there have to be other University of Maryland alumns out here somewhere. Right? Am I the really the only one?

Go Terps!

Anyhow, I was a history and English major at Maryland, and graduated in 1995. I had one of those classic liberal arts education that prepares you for life better than it does for any one particular job (except that if I ever get on that "Millionaire" show or Jeopardy, I'll have a decent chance of winning). My concentration in English was creative writing, which makes the degree slightly more useless, although I think I also had enough of the required courses to tell employers that I concentrated in English Lit.

The whole undergrad experience was tremendous fun, and I wouldn't trade it for anything the world.

Grad school, on the other hand (at George Washington University here in D.C.) is a big pain in the ass.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I graduated from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, in 1985 with a double major in English and history and a minor in religion. Oberlin is the first place that I can remember ever feeling an immediate emotional connection to -- that happened when I went for my interview. I felt strongly that I was meant to be there.

Oberlin has a liberal tradition, which was important to me. It was the first truly coeducational college. It was a stop on the Underground Railroad. It had a fairly diverse student body. Oberlin has a Conservatory of Music, and I was excited about being able to study music there, even if it wasn't going to be my major.

I really enjoyed college. My first two years, I drank entirely too much, and goofed off a lot, and my grades were only so-so. My last two years, I worked harder, finally finishing with honors. If I had been able to strike a happy medium between drunken revelry and studious temperance, my college years would have been spectacular.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

University of Glasgow, 1989 - 1995. This is a bit longer than you're supposed to take to get a degree...

I started by studying dentistry, which was a nice idea but unfortunately I was pretty duff at chemistry and physiology and failed the year. What I got out of that was the knowledge that comes from having looked inside dead bodies and plenty of stories to scare the squeamish.

The next year was part-time studying Czech Literature (in translation) and medieval history at Uni, and taking Higher music at a local secondary school. It was fun; my czech lit teacher was a dissident who told us stories about life there before he had to flee, and showed photos of him with famous czech authors. This year I learned the joys of actually doing what you're good at and what you love.

They let me back in full-time the next year (hurrah!)and I spent four years getting my MA in English Language and Literature. I loved University; I made good friends, saw lots of bands and, like everyone else, grew up a whole hell of a lot. And when, after four years of hard work/drinking/dancing I strode out into the bright light of day, waving my crisp new degree I learned that the only thing it qualified me for was a career in audio-typing...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Bea, my father also tried dentistry, but couldn't pass physics. Which is just as well, as he's incredibly squeamish and impatient, and would have been a dreadful dentist, and going to the dentist is bad enough at the best of times without somebody like that tending to you!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I dropped out of high school to enlist in the Air Force because I had been thrown out of so many classes I wouldn't graduate with the class I'd gone through grammar school, and junior high school with, the [high school] Class of '57.

When I got out, I lived at home and drove to Palm Beach Junior College, in Lake Worth, ten miles from Delray Beach. They didn't have the GI Bill in 1960.

Living at home caused me to reenlist.

When I got out the second time, they had the GI Bill, so I went to FSU, in Tallahassee, and majored in anthropology.

I knew I was going to be a writer. I thought I'd get a liberal arts degree, a white collar job, and teach myself to write, after work.

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society was going strong, in 1968, when I graduated, magna cum laude. I could get paid to go to graduate school. Which I did, in anthropology, at FSU, and Tulane.

I thought my day job would be college professor.

But Nixon got in, cut the money off, and we were stranded in the pipeline, me and Brenda, terminal throughput. Brenda graduated from FSU in anthropology the same time I did.

We met in college and got married when we graduated. (Brenda now works in telephony. Predictive dialer, voice-over-IP.)

I stole the last year of my NDEA fellowship to teach myself to write. Started writing September 1, 1971. Have not looked back.

Being a student, and a graduate student, was good experience, for a writer. As was being a GI, and a field archeologist, later a demolition laborer.

Scott Nearing says in the College of Hard Knocks, an expulsion is often a promotion.

I worked as a laborer for several years, then got a job as a technical writer. I think having a degree, any degree, helped, but I got the job based on 37 weeks of electronics tech school my second hitch and four years on-the-job training in an installation, then a communications squadron in the service.

Making good grades got me a fellowship. But that didn't lead anywhere, for me. Except for giving me that year at the house, developing my chops. That was very valuable. I established my work habits, as a writer, an extension of my study habits, which were an extension, in turn, of the work ethic I learned in the military.

I was older than most of the students I went to college with, more mature, more inner-directed, or self-motivated. I had gotten partying out of the way.

I still drank, and drank hard. But I wouldn't call it partying.

I looked down on business majors, fraternity boys, strivers, the ambitious. I was eat up with ambition. Just, in a track that was off the beaten path. An uncharted track.

I don't want to do what college prepares you to do, and never did.

I am going where I go, as I go, out there on point, where the leaves tremble.

I call myself a vernacular writer. Meaning self-taught.

Raw, intuitive. Naive.

A primitive with eight years of college.

I loved the life in a college town, coffeehouses and libraries, used bookstores, foreign films, live music, art exhibits, theater. I find I can get that wherever I live, with video stores, Amazon.com, and the Internet.

I'm glad I don't teach college. For one thing, I wouldn't have lasted, as outspoken as I am. For another, I couldn't master the careerism skills. I had a horror of mastering them.

University towns are hotbeds of conformity, backbiting, social control through gossip, cronyism. I'm glad I'm not immersed in that milieu.

I just do my job, go home, and live my real life, there. My life online.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

UC Santa Cruz, 1989-1993, and I loved loved loved it! After coming from a high school that was the extreme in cliques, I found myself in a place where I was accepted and welcomed by so many wonderful people, it was great. I still think of my freshman year in the dorms as one of the best in my life. I got a BA in Marine Biology, and I studied way too much. Even with all the fun I had, I should have had more. I also wish I had not had to have part time jobs all through college.

I had no idea what to do with my degree, so I went to grad school. MA from Univ. of Colorado, Boulder in 1997. This was a terrible experience. Too much stress and after 3 years I realized I didn't want a PhD or any of the futures that it would lead to, so I left with a masters. Only good thing, I met my husband there!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. BS in Journalism/Advertising, minor in graphic design. 1997.

Over the course of my college career, I changed my major from Physics to English to Pharmacy to Journalism. Either I'm well rounded or indecicive.

I now work as a graphic designer/web designer.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I noticed several other central Illinoisers in here...I went to school in Decatur, Illinois, at Millikin University. Decatur is a hellhole, the best thing about living down there was getting out of town. Champaign-Urbana was an hour away, so was Bloomington-Normal, and it was two hours to St. Louis.

The best way to describe Decatur is an industrial town that has seen much more prosperous days. While I was living down there (1991-1995), a number of the plants were on strike for long periods of time, workers were constantly being laid off, crime was rampant, nothing new was being built, and Decatur lost its crown as the Soybean Capital of the World. The whole town still smelled like the soybean processing plants (we had two--ADM and Staley). It used to amaze me when people living in Champaign-Urbana would bitch about the smells coming from the Kraft plant, because on a breezy Decatur day, the stink of soybeans could knock a person out.

I was a hellion in college. I had been a really good girl throughout high school, never drank, never smoked, said no to drugs, and I took the opportunity to reinvent myself in college. Some bad things happened, some good things happened, and I managed to emerge from the whole experience sans my suburban good girl naivete.

I started out as a music performance major but I had serious personality conflicts with my flute teacher, which is kind of a problem if you're a flute performance major and there's only one flute teacher, so I switched to English/Writing. I added a Secondary Education major during my sophomore year and declared myself a Spanish minor when I realized that I had enough credits to do so.

Millikin's a big theatre school. The lead in the touring company of the musical Footloose is a Millikin alum, so is the voice of the Little Mermaid. One of my former classmates was on the TV series Boston Common (which was really a waste of her talent) and several others are involved in Broadway productions.

I loved college. I can't say that there are things I wouldn't do differently given the chance, because I made a lot of really dumbassed mistakes. But that's what college is for...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

This is slightly off topic, but today I was editing a brochure for a European-American educational exchange program. The point of the brochure was that America actually has reputable universities and some of them are older than many European universities. There was a paragraph on each of half a dozen universities, giving the year it was founded and listing some illustrious graduates.

The first one was UVa and Edgar Allan Poe was listed as an example of a famous graduate. I started to wonder about Poe's college career and looked him up on the Web. He dropped out of UVa after a year, it turned out, and then he went on to himself kicked out of West Point. Way to go, Edgar! (And his West Point classmates, recognizing his real gifts, chipped in to publish a book of his poetry.)

Then there was Princeton, for whom Thomas Mann was claimed as an alumnus. Turns out Mann only taught there and got an honorary degree. His formal education ended pretty early:

I was designated to take over my father's grain firm, which commemorated its centenary during my boyhood, and I attended the science division of the +Katharineum; at L|beck. I loathed school and up to the very end failed to meet its requirements, owing to an innate and paralyzing resistance to any external demands, which I later learned to correct only with great difficulty. Whatever education I possess I acquired in a free and autodidactic manner. Official instruction failed to instill in me any but the most rudimentary knowledge. - Nobel Prize site

Then there was George Washington, who supposedly had a connection with William and Mary, but not one that I could verify. I bet he was a dropout too. All in all, the brochure was an excellent unintentional advertisement for slacking in school, and it could have been even better with a mention of Bill Gates.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Stanford University, BA in Linguistics. (The only major I could find that would let me use all those units I'd racked up in computer science, psychology, mathematics, German, French, Spanish, and, oh yes, linguistics.) The jobs I held in school in various computer science departments had way more to do with my getting at job at Apple Computer than what I studied in school ever did.

I also got an MFA in Film from USC. Most of the people in my class at USC were a)a lot younger than I was, b)had gone to grad school right out of college, and c)had studied film in their undergraduate work. I think there should be a requirement for anyone doing film that they have to have a little life experience, but I may be biased.

I also have an AA from DeAnza community college in Film, but I've never applied to receive actual certification of it. Darin keeps saying, "Which one of these degrees is not like the others?" but I'm very proud of the work I did at De Anza, where I took classes after leaving Apple. DeAnza retaught me the purpose of going to school in the first place.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

i did a semester in nyc at Eugene Lang College. All of my credits at the school have counted towards zero of my current credit hours. Then I went to a small state school in texas because of money for 1 1/2 years. I moved home to save more money and went to university of houston for a year. Now I am back at the small state school.

3 changes of major and 3 changes of school later i am scheduled to graduate in may 2001 with a history degree and a reliigous studies minor, which is pretty decent considering all the above mentioned waffling.

Of course I have to make it through this week of finals before I can look forward to anything.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Nanette: the Kraft plant was pretty gross on bad days, but you're right Champaign-Urbana has nothin' on Decatur.

It's strange to see so many people here with roots in Illinois. I always had this idea that the whole journalling world was in California.

Okay, maybe not the WHOLE world.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

University of Aberdeen (UK) 1991-95

Definitely *the* best time of my life. Made a bundle of better than best friends, and learned how to cure the hiccups. What more can a person ask?

Oh - my degree's in Computer Science (or is it computing? I forget) and it definitely helped me get my first job as a contractor in the states. Need a degree for an insta-visa dontcha know (unless you happen to be a sheep-herder with 2 yrs experience).

Anyway - I then did a little stint of 'learning' how to be a teacher, and recommended to ALL my 6th year students (seniors) to go away to college. Do not stay at home. Go away. Do not pass go and pick up the $200. But go away. It will either make you or break you. And if it breaks you already when you've got nothing to worry about, then you need all the help you can get, because you'll never survive real life. And finding out now will only improve things.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Currently on my third year at UC Davis. I can't remember what I thought it would be...but frankly, I never thought it'd come out lilke it has. I did figure I'd be more of a nerd than I am now. Freshman year started out fun, made new friends- then drifted away from a lot of them due to schoolwork and night classes, so it wasn't that much fun anymore. Sophomore year started out icky, then acquired a boyfriend and it all became very wonderful. Junior year- Absolute fucking nightmare awful hell and getting worse.

Maybe it'll all balance out senior year?

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

BA in English from Illinois State University, 1990-'93. Nanette: I used to drive to Decatur from Bloomington to go to a big used book store; I think it was called the Book Barn? I, too, am amazed at all the Central Illinoisians and English degrees who read Beth and are in this forum! I loved college. I should have studied harder and partied less, but I sure had fun. Met my husband there, too. Dorm life for the first two years, apartments after that. Apartments with friends were better. I once heard someone compare a dormitory life to a womb-like existance which I thought was totally appropriate. It might have had something to do with the harsh long winters in the midwest though. Most of my jobs have been in libraries, and many just required a non-specific four year degree. I'm considering going back to get my MLS at UW Milwaukee through their distance learing (internet)degree plan.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

University of New Hampshire with a BS in Animal Sci. 92' I was to go to vet school but (bad boyfriend story), boyfriend and I ended up in Charlottesville VA. UNH was an awesome school with a beautiful campus to boot I ended up getting a BSN at the University of Virginia 97' great school, but they think they are AWESOME, and it is very irritating..They actually have school car stickers with not just UVA but also -The University ,this is actually one of the car stickers, and it is very popular, I often wonder what people in other states think when they see these cars with THE UNIVERSITY stickers on them--- ---ahhhhhh "what the hell does that mean" Yes, UVa is very arrogant, but I digress, college is awesome and as my old irish mother would tell you I would be a perpetual student if I could:)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Julie--the Old Book Barn rules! That was the best place to get cheap used books for classes...all the people in the lit classes would trade in their books there at the end of the semester because it was better to get a couple bucks trade credit per book than the $1 our stupid college bookstore would offer you for a paperback book.

It's still one of my must-visit places when I go back to Decatur.

Every time I drove to Bloomington-Normal, the town got hit by a tornado. Eventually I stopped going there.

Central IL is a pretty hip place to live...not that I'd ever go back. I did my time.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Here is my list of degrees/schools: BS Chemical Engineering, Univ of Penn 1983, MS Elect. Eng. Oklahoma State, 2 yrs toward PhD Univ of Vermont. Now, I am an engineer; a federal employee working for the US government on electronic systems used by the Navy. I live in Rhode Island.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Iggy

I went to Rhode Island School of Design.

I dreamed of going there since I was in middle school and I really loved the whole experience.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

So - I'm the first Hokie on the board: Virginia Tech, BS in Biology (concentration: microbiology), class of 1994. I loved Blacksburg, especially the surrounding area.

Then I went to graduate school where Stef of stef.net is currently in school, getting an M.S. in technical communication from RPI. Stef, I can't believe you're electing to stay in Troy. The winters there nearly drove me over the edge.

-----------------------------------------------

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

A.B. Princeton, Geosciences. Definitely four of the best years of my life, and it had nothing to do with my classes. I think college is an amazing experience - living away from home for the first time, making your own decisions (ok, some of your own decisions ;)... I just love the sense of possibilities. I really liked having the opportunity to leave home (3000 miles) and explore a new place on my own, live in the dorms, and generally immerse myself in the experience. I know I was lucky to have the options I did, but I figure the least I can do is appreciate them.

After 3 years of enjoying NOT being a student, I've just decided to start working on a Ph.D. Any advice from all you grad students out there? How is it different? I'm looking forward to it, but also feeling a bit overwhelmed by being in the classroom again - and by the time estimates I've been hearing. I may be keeping you company with that nine years thing, Rob.

Oh, and Nancey? I live in Oneonta...at least till June! It's a nice town, and I think I'll miss it...although I have to admit I'd agree with your characterization of SUCO.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I went to the University of Texas at Austin 1970-1974. I majored in Aerospace Engineering. They started a Computer Science major in 1972, but I'd have had to take a language so I just took a bunch of their courses but stuck with aero as my major. My grades were average, but I was in Air Force ROTC and didn't expect to really be an engineer. I expected to be shot down in Vietnam. I worked almost full time through out college and I don't drink, so my social life was pretty minimal. I was painfully shy back then, a problem that I've worked on for years.

I was in the Air Force from 1974-94. In that time I got an MBA from Houston Baptist University. (Even though I don't drink, I'm not a Baptist, but they had a part time program that fit my schedule).

I went back to college for the spring semester of 1995 and just took a bunch of computer classes at St. Edward's university. I made all A's there, but hated the bureaucracy and I'd had enough of hierarchal organizations in the service. In April 1995 I went to work for an Austin startup as a programmer, and am now in my third startup, hopeing for the big payoff.

I have taught C++ for Austin Community College a couple of times. I like teaching, and I wish it paid more.

The only college program that interests me at the moment is the South Texas College of Law in Houston. They have a part time program that would take four years, and a lot of old farts like me go there. I've become involved in a couple of lawsuits and been a juror and witness several times in the last few years, and I know I could do a better job than a lot of the lawyers that I've been involved with. At 48, I'm kind of ridiculously old to be a programmer, but I think I can last another few years. In another 4 years or so I think I'll be done with programming and will go into either aviation, teaching or law, where I'll still be way older than everyone else, just as I've been for the last 8 years.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000