Being A College Student

An Bui

Daniela Kostadinovska

English 107

25 February 2019

Being a College Student

“Every year, many, many stupid people graduate from college. And if they can do it, so can you.” John Green

The concept that genuinely interests me is that being a college student is not at all easy. When you were little everything seems to be so easy and less complicated. Also, you always had parents by your side, and they nourished and supported you all through your childhood until you grew up. Being an adult especially the college student is hard; you have to do everything by yourself take care of a lot of things. Money is one of the most important things for a college student because without money nothing is achievable. School costs a lot for classes etc., i.e., money is needed for paying bills and tuition fee. Other than that being a college student help you in developing the personal ability a lot, as you do everything by yourself and that could help self-independent skill and not have to be dependent on anyone else. Also, you could learn how to manage your time better and balance your life between school, work, and relationships. This essay will give insight into the complicated life of a college student. Also, the pros and cons of college life will be discussed.

Human beings have this basic instinct of being independent and free to do whatever is desired. So for that matter, being controlled by parents is the most annoying thing because you are not allowed to do anything without their permission, and your freedom is restricted to go to school by bus or your parents drive you to school. However, while being a college student gives you the privilege to drive the car to school. Whereas, the worst thing about college is that due to excessive homework students have to stay up all night. Hence it deprives them of sleep, leading towards exhaustion or fatigue.

As rightly as they say, “College is fun as long as you don't die.” It is a roller coaster of emotions related to the success and failure of college life. The common perception of a student who passes high school is to consider himself to be all grown up and free of school strictness and ultimately that it's time to party! (Donaldson, p.34). However, it goes the other way round, and students end up having grade anxiety. This is due to the reason that as we grow, so does our responsibilities.

Consequently, the excitement of independence and partying goes astray when the realities of college life hit hard. The foremost concern or problem faced by college students is that while getting recruited in a college, they get to have freedom or no parental supervision anymore. Which is good for some people but others might feel overwhelmed with responsibilities, and are not ready to take them.

Many students, like me, are covering their college fee by themselves. So this new obligation is a little too much for students who have not to work in their life before and have to earn this degree on their own. The life suddenly toughens up when a person ends its teenage and enters into a college. The college life comes with certain repercussions, i.e., time management, tuition costs, social problems, partying, health conditions, relationships and choosing a major. These issues are catered only if a student is well behaved and disciplined, which most of them forget once they enter college life. The students are mostly overwhelmed by the freedom, independence, and liberation that were not provided in the school time. Time management is the primary issue which is faced by many of us (Stage, Frances, and Manning, np). We have a lot of things going on in life along with the studies, as priorities are changed with every forwarded step of life.

Hence, a college student has to give time to studies, his family friends and other acquaintances. It is not easy to manage an active social as well as educational life. A student who are successful in the curriculum have to give up on form some other spheres of their life, i.e., social or family gatherings. The social problems arise either due to time management or other discriminative factors, for instance being bullied, etc.

According to a famous quote which says that ‘When going gets tough, the tough get going,' in the context that when life gets difficult, it wants something best out of us. So the struggles of college life get the student to the brilliant heights of their career where they can major into the subject they are interested or have command in. These factors are worth the struggle faced by the students (Stephens, np). The stress of studies is no doubt very canny in ways it makes a person capable of soaring on the unrealistic heights. College life makes you capable of future practical experience, in the studies as well as social life, i.e., helps you build the career and aim t a successful life.

Consequently, this essay provided a brief insight into the complexities in the life of a college student, along with the pros and cons of college life. It explains the issues or challenges faced by every person enrolled in a college. But it also provides a review to the pros of having this difficulty that is given in the form of a successful career or practical life ahead. No matter how hard things get, never should one give up, as the hard work always pays off. College is not just the time for partying and overusing your independence. Therefore, I would like ending my essay with these lines said famously by David Wood,

“College is the best time of your life. When else are your parents going to spend several thousand dollars a year just for you to go to a strange town and get drunk every night?”

References

Donaldson, Paul, et al. "First-year community college students' perceptions of and attitudes toward intrusive academic advising." NACADA Journal 36.1 (2016): 30-42.

Stage, Frances K., and Kathleen Manning, eds. Research in the college context: Approaches and methods. Routledge, 2015.

Stephens, Nicole M., et al. "A difference-education intervention equips first-generation college students to thrive in the face of stressful college situations." Psychological science 26.10 (2015): 1556-1566.