If you could do college over, what would you do differently?

I was a 9:16 high-school two-miler, but did not compete in college and instead ran on my own throughout my college years. If I had it to do all over, I would have participated in cross-country.

On a warm January night of my freshman year, warm enough that it rained in Ohio, I found myself in a dorm room of of a friend's high school buddies. We drank a 40 before heading out, and I had a nice buzz going on. I took a seat next to my buddy's female friend visiting from another college and she laughed at my jokes.

As we were walking to some club that let in underage kids and let them drink, it started raining. I had the awareness to bring an umbrella, and the girl sidled up next to me under the umbrella. She laughed at most of my quips and did not pull back at my touch.

Later in the club, i asked if she wanted to dance and off we went to the dance floor. I did not ever dance in clubs or listen to hip hop. She moved in ways that no girl had ever done with me. Before long, we were making out on the dance floor, grinding, touching each other in those special places.

On the walk back to my dorm, we kissed constantly and could not keep our hands off each other. She kept trying to slow us down so we would lose our group of friends. But I insisted that we catch up with them. With the alcohol wearing off and my nervousness from being a virgin creeping in, I feared that I would be repulsive in the sack.

The moment came when I could hear back to my dorm and she could go back to her friend's dorm. I kissed her one last time and we parted.

If only I followed her lead and let us disappear from our friends, I would have lost my virginity that night. I regret not losing my virginity that night. i have since then But I would have preferred that January night.

You usually only regret the things you did NOT do, rather than the things you did do.

Also I regret living alone my junior year. That did some emotional damage that I have only come to realize fully five years later. But I saw the dark depths of loneliness and disillusionment, and I am stronger for it now.

Everything else, I made the best decision with the knowledge I had at the time. This planet has been good to me, and I am grateful for the many opportunities I have been provided.

aintgettinany wrote:

[quote]drop out wrote:

from the perspective of someone who didn't finish:

1. I wish I hadn't run, even though it was a great experience. Honestly I wasn't successful enough to justify the time it took away from studying."

I hear this a lot from runners and I dont see how an hour of running in the AM and in the PM takes away from studying? Even if you account for travel to meets that's still usually a friday & sat. thing.

Are you REALLY telling me that you'd be studying on a friday night or saturday morning? Doubt it. You are just fooling yourself and making excuses.

This is spot on. I had more free time on my hands when I was a college runner than at any other point in time in my life. People who have this complaint are losers making excuses.

You have to factor in more than just the time spent running. The competitive runner is an obsessed, tormented soul. When he's not running, he's thinking about running. He is always in energy conservation mode. The running begins to overshadow other goals to the exlcusion of all else. It's that single track mind which can limit your professional and social life.

So ignorance IS bliss!

alanson wrote:

Study after study shows that it is your high school "B" student who is most likely to lead a successful and fulfilling life.

I wouldnt introduce myself to my wife.

alanson wrote:

You've bought into the great Ivy League myth, which is too bad. Study after study shows that it is your high school "B" student who is most likely to lead a successful and fulfilling life. Stop looking backward and move on.

I would like to see these studies.

the dude whose life made a uee wrote:

I wouldnt introduce myself to my wife.

that bad, huh?

vdfbd wrote:

You have to factor in more than just the time spent running. The competitive runner is an obsessed, tormented soul. When he's not running, he's thinking about running. He is always in energy conservation mode. The running begins to overshadow other goals to the exlcusion of all else. It's that single track mind which can limit your professional and social life.

This is exactly right. Not to mention our practices were not a couple hours/day. Our practice times were 4 hours long - 3 to 7. By the time you ate and showered after practiced, studying was sometimes the last thing you felt like doing. This doesn't include extra yoga and pilate classes,mandatory athletic meetings, weekly community service projects, trips to the trainer, hosting recruits (we hosted MANY recruits - sleeping on the floor because you are required to give it up your bed all weekend to a recruit gets old). We were expected to live and breathe the team 24/7.

I would have taken out the maximum student loan and bought Apple stock with the extra cash.

Hooked up with more black chicks.

Invested in Apple Corp. stock.

shoulda coulda wrote:

I would have taken out the maximum student loan and bought Apple stock with the extra cash.

We think alike. Except your idea is better.

NOT have a time-sucking, awful girlfriend and have sex with A LOT more women. I didn't because of the girlfriend. I turned down a lot of sex because I wanted to be faithful but in retrospect, those are my biggest college regrets

I hear this a lot from runners and I dont see how an hour of running in the AM and in the PM takes away from studying? Even if you account for travel to meets that's still usually a friday & sat. thing.

Are you REALLY telling me that you'd be studying on a friday night or saturday morning? Doubt it. You are just fooling yourself and making excuses.

I'm not sure you realize how tiring those doubles are. Especially as a freshman going from 5k to 8/10k. That step-up took me two years to really get under my belt.

And it's not just the time running. You have to get up early, eat something (a banana, some tea, toast, whatever), then get to the track/meet place, warmup, then cooldown, then shower, then back to the dorms, then breakfast. And jesus did I eat breakfast back then. Three plates of food and I still was losing weight. 6'2 with 140 as my goal weight and it was hard to keep that on. then you do it again in the afternoon, and normally that workout was even more intense.

If you add it up, it's 4-5 hours a day.

Saturdays are spent on a bus and some invite somewhere across the state if you're lucky. And we did have several wed meets during the year.

The rest of your school mates don't have that extra 4-5 hours of time "lost" nor the loss of energy and sleep.

And there's stress as well, but that's harder to quantify. You're not just thinking about exams during the end of the trimester. It's the end of the season, too!

I'm not complaining. I'm saying that that is why folk say it's hard. It is hard.

And I would do it again. Probably just do more summer work than I did. I got lazy in July and I paid for it in November...

Not had a gf

Talked to the foreign chicks more

Studied more

Add math or computer science to my existing degree (econ)

Studied abroad

Problem was it isn't a few hours a day. It is 3-4 hours a day, making you too fatigued to study afterwards. Then entire days for competition getting up at 4am and coming home at 10 pm. It is almost like a fulltime 40 hr week job. I don't regret doing track/xc but it sure doesn't help your grades haha

YDP - YOUNG DUMB ()

Here's an article that explains this point of view.Also, see the work of David McClelland, professor at Harvard (died 1998).

vivalarepublica wrote:

alanson wrote:

You've bought into the great Ivy League myth, which is too bad. Study after study shows that it is your high school "B" student who is most likely to lead a successful and fulfilling life. Stop looking backward and move on.

I would like to see these studies.