"Welcome to College"

[McDreidel09]

Or any variation of that phrase. This phrase is usually said when I say "I've got soooo much homework" or if I talk about having sleep deprivation or anything that normally goes on in a college student's life.

And I hate when people say it. Well no shit. I KNOW what college is like. I knew very well what was going on when I applied. I made myself aware. It doesn't mean that I can't bitch about it once in a while.

Usually, this comes from people who bitch about things that go on at work. Should I start saying "Welcome to the workforce, where you deal with dumb coworkers, even dumber bosses, and the worst kinds of people as customers"?

I'm pretty damn sure they would get pissed if I said that.

So if I am venting about some aspect of college, please let me do so without hearing "Welcome to college life/academia/the real world." It's really annoying and it makes me feel like I am complaining, rather than venting a bit of frustration.

And as a side note, if I am venting about my Intermediate Algebra class, I hate hearing from people in higher math "Well, my problems are harder than yours. I don't see what you are complaining about." Eff you! I have a hard time with the subject, which is the reason I'm in that stupid class. How about I get on you about how you are moaning and groaning about your composition class?

[Rageaholic]

I know what you're talking about.

Don't get me started on those kind of sayings. I don't give a shit how much harder or tougher things are for others, it has nothing to do with me. It's not going to magically make me think "oh it's not so hard, what was I thinking?". If anything, I'm going to feel pathetic and hopeless, thinking that I won't be able to handle anything. How the hell is that helpful?

As for the algebra thing, I can sympathize. For me, it's Anthropology, which bores me to tears. I have to take two classes in anthropology regardless of my major. I just about had it reading these boring ass textbooks on shit I could care less about. After years of this stuff, it gets tedious. The last thing I want to hear is that my feelings are invalid. Fuck those people.

[Giggle Goose]

And I hate when people say it. Well no shit. I KNOW what college is like. I knew very well what was going on when I applied. I made myself aware. It doesn't mean that I can't bitch about it once in a while.

You know, I was thinking about this recently. I was so used to my mom telling me it was all a "part of being an adult" and all that crap. Last week I just couldn't help it so I called her and started bitching about how busy work was and how much I had to do, and I immediately followed it with: "I KNOW you're going to tell me that it's the real world and blahblahblah..." but she actually interrupted me and said "yeah, well, no one said you can't whine about it!"

Wow. So maybe 23 is a magical age where you automatically get your free pass to bitch! (yeah right)!

[elsporko]

When sombody says something like that its a polite way of telling you to stop whining. Either you are upset about something they deem a minor point or are complaining to them too much.

[muses_nightmare]

I hate this, especially the "welcome to the real world" phrase. Seriously, while high school may not be the most difficult part of your life (which isn't even true for a lot of people, for some it is the hardest part) but as I see it, everyone is living in the "real world".

I used to get people saying that when I bitched about work. Now I can just shut them up by giving them a list of my homework assignments. Compared to the university credit courses I took (which were mostly English courses), the diploma program I'm in gives 10X more homework, in way less time (it's for Graphic Design).

If I can shut up and listen to my friend bitching about her hair school homework and not say "welcome to the real world" (or trying to compare our homework) or what have you, people can shut up when I bitch.

[Greenday]

I say "Welcome to College!". I say it to freshmen who don't expect it to be hard. I say it to my friends who are seniors. It is never meant as a "Well, what did you expect, for it to be easy?" It's more of a "Yea, I know it sucks." It's a mantra more than anything. It sums up all the negatives in one phrase. Yea, I could agree and go on about how much I hate tests/quizzes/essays/lab reports/grant proposals/teachers/administration/stupid lab partners/friends that piss you off/people who see me studying for a 400 level chem class, then they HAVE to bitch about their chem 100 class/etc. We obviously don't have the time to go through each and every thing that bugs me in college. So to sum it all up, I just say, "Yea, welcome to college..." or "Yep, that's college for you..."

[Lace Neil Singer]

I remember someone saying that to me when I'd just started college. I was talking about loss of sleep due to college, and someone chipped in with, "Welcome to college. You are going to be kept up all night with homework, you know." I hit back with, "I wasn't doing homework, I was getting smashed at the bar," which shut them up. XD

For the record, I did do my homework... honest. 0: ) I did it before I went to the pub. XD

[McDreidel09]

How you say it, Greenday, is not too bad. However, other people mean it in the other way you talked about. That I HATE. I'm an unusual freshie. I came in to college knowing how hard it was going to be. I changed my study habits and organizational habits to fit it. I accepted the fact that I was a tiny tadpole in this huge pond and do not think for a second that I rule this place.

[gremcint]

I find the "Real World comments" to be extremely condescending, assuming my life is less real than yours, assuming I don't have the same responsilities you do. I would actually say that school can actually be harder than a lot of jobs.

The worst part is the "Real World" comments occurr usually in 3 situations:

1. The student is just complaining about something like having to do homework or whatever.

2. The teacher is defending NOT doing their job (leaving out instructions, giving wrong information, etc)

3. someone is defending the teacher not doing their job


I actually ranted at a teacher once about how when he was trying to teach us how to operate in the real world that that was BS and I needed to operate now to get good grades.


Dear teachers and others, STUDENTS ARE IN THE REAL WORLD, THEY WORK HARD, THEY PAY BILLS AND THEY DEAL WITH ALL OF YOUR BULLSHIT SO STOP BEING PRETENTIOUS AND DO YOUR FUCKING JOB.

[KellyHabersham]

My mom used to give me that sort of saying all the time, only with me, it was "Well, welcome to motherhood!" (this being when my daughter was a baby and I had trouble getting her to go back to sleep at night,...etc)

[protege]

My mom used the "welcome to college, suck it up" line constantly...usually when I was stressing out over finals, papers, etc. Never mind that I do have some issues when it comes to learning. But, at least I got to use that line on *her* when she went back to school for her Masters

[Rageaholic]

Gremcint: WORD

I hate teachers who use that "real world" bull shit to justify their unfair or harsh treatment of students. I remember once when I was ranting about a teacher who had written me up for being 3 seconds late and how he asked me if I was late. In a nutshell, he started screaming at me about how he didn't ask me how long I was late, he asked me if I was late. He was just an angry control freak who took his problems out on students.

However, my one aunt didn't see it that way. She saw it as him being an asshole to "get me prepared for the real world" where bosses and other teachers would be overly strict about that stuff. What I got from this was "Well people will be assholes to you in the future, so you might as well get used to it now". So instead of trying to be fair and reasonable, you're an asshole just because other people are going to be assholes? Instead of perpetuating this cycle of assholery, why don't we try to make a difference and be nice?

This thread brought up a lot of my pet hates.

[Greenday]

In one of my labs, my teacher paired us up with partners to do some separation experiment of nickel and zinc. She knew my partner was allergic to nickel so she got the zinc and I got the nickel. My teacher then gave us a four question lab report and three of the questions were on nickel. I tried to contact my partner but she would never respond so I got a 25%. I bitched to my teacher about it but she just said in "the real world", I'd have to deal with co-workers who screw me over and get me into "serious trouble". If I got in serious trouble over something completely out of my control, I'd file a grievance or if I got fired over it, I'd sue for wrongful termination. Suck on that one, teacher!

[DrFaroohk]

I find statements like that to just be bullshit excuses to fuck with people. "Well, that's life" or "Welcome to the real world!" or "That's corporate america for you!"

It's a lame, weak cop out and it needs to stop. The world would be a much better place if people stopped accepting the giant steel dildo that keeps getting shoved at them and said "NO FUCKING WAY" instead of "well, that's just life. Let me bend over...."

[Boozy]

This probably doesn't apply to most of the people we're discussing here, but every time I've used a phrase like "Well, that's life" or, "Well, that's college/work for you" it's because I'm tired of hearing that person gripe about it and I'm trying to gracefully exit the conversation.

It's not that I agree or disagree with their complaints. It's that I'm tired of talking about it and I'm trying to change the subject.

Anytime someone says something that neatly wraps up the topic in a simplified and flippant phrase, one should assume that the conversation has reached completion and move on.

Maybe I should start using, "How about that local sports team?"