You have a lot to learn about life and the true reality of your situation. To be honest, you’re the naive one, and it’s certainly not university’s fault.

To state the obvious, im not happy with university, theres something wrong with this institution, at secondary school and college it was easy for me (im from the uk) and i found the work manageable, interesting. At university the modules are not are as they are portrayed when i first signed up, there is little help on the assignments, i’ve only seen one guy get a first! in three years! the class average is 2:2, pathetic, and this from the university of leicester, which i think is about 12th in the UK. On top of that the department has won numerous awards and merits in my subject area in relation to student feedback, which i can’t imagine why as i’ve met about 3 students who actually have praise to give.

The lectures are so uninformative, and provide you with very very very (x10) basic outlines of the module. I’m not a racist, i’m leicester born and bred, the most multicultural city in leicester, but even i have trouble deciphering the accents of some of the lecturers, i’m sure they have brilliant minds and are renowned names in their fields but fuck me, isn’t it more important that we actually understand and are able to hear what were being taught?

Then it comes to the pressure it exerts on students, as i’ve said most of them are sheltered or naive people, but this isn’t their fault in most instances, i’ll blame the upbringing, they haven’t been prepared for the stress and i’ve seen people crack and scream, cry, shout, beg etc just for the sake of a module mark, just for a piece of paper, just for this “life changing” degree.

And what does it actually get us these days? jackshit for the majority, i remember teachers used to tell me when i was little “dont wanna shove shit for a living? go to uni, get a degree, youll be made for life”. Its been 17 years straight in education for me, and i get told im too “entitled” and “arrogant” to have any hopes of a good job… maybe the teacher back then was spreading false hope, maybe the older generation who has been less successful is too bitter…

And now it leads me to this point, with 4 months left to go to think, why am i ranting at this stage? Because even with the benefit of being nearly finished (and i know theres a lot of people out there who are envious of me right now and think “what a self-righteous prick” ) i was at the stage for so long that i was depressed, anxious, stressed etc….to the stage where you cant sleep without thinking about being a failure, not meeting expectations of others, letting yourself down…whatever your reason is. Then you realise that if you did quit, where would you go, what would you do? how would you make money, sustain a lifestyle you’ve gotten used to whether its at home or just the “uni lifestyle”. You can’t, so you do what you must: tell yourself you’re a tough motherfucker and that you’re to going to beat it. But the only thing you’re beating is the rebellious thoughts in your head, the ones that might actually take you somewhere, the ones that could make you cross from academic “success” to real life wealth, real knowledge, independence, experience….the things that actually matter, instead the fucking world seems deadset on seeing how much useless shit they can force on a group of people and the ones who survive the onslaught get given a smiley sticker and a pat on the head and go back to their waiting jobs (and yes i am now a waiter).

Do what i havent had the bollocks to do, leave uni, get a life, your own one, not one which is dictated by numbers, facts, stats, results. One that you could tell your children about one day, one that you could look back on and say “the experience i had in thailand/new zealand/uganda/colombia/china etc was the best fucking thing i did” instead of “hey bro, remember that stats exam in year 2? nailed it!”

This has turned into an essay, so to summarize my main points uni style:

Point 1) Fuck uni

By Kazuo Black

heres a clip which proves im self aware enough to know that im pathetic and deserve no sympathy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzxcjg7YZSs

I totally understand where you’re coming from with your status. I had the same problems with my flatmates when I lived in university in my first year. The whole note thing, the exact thing happened with me. It even went as far as the dicks drawing everyone on the whiteboard in the kitchen with me with a cock on my head… really funny not but at the time I was kinda upset. Photographed it and reported it to the accom and uni.

anyways, 2 years on… i have 3 months left. Dissertation deadline coming up soon and friends showing their true bitchy colours. University isn’t all it’s made out to be, I’m afraid.

Stick in there mate, you will get through it. Post your email if you ever want to chat or contact me. Things do and things will get better.
This uni year is almost over now anyway!!

Good luck with everything.

University is marketed as some sort of never-ending party in the UK. Our expectations are sky-high, and most of us arrive there with a passion for our subject and hopes for new friends, new experiences, and a new version of ourselves.
Which isn’t the reality.

All I can suggest for people is to focus ALL of your energy into doing what you love. If you love English, write. Write and read constantly. If you like sports, spend an hour a day doing that. Join a society. Contribute to something or yourself, or you’ll just feel empty and depressed.
I spent my first term feeling wholeheartedly hopeless. I wasn’t able to sleep until 5 or 6 in the morning, I cried all the time, and I just felt completely let down.

I had some issues with my flatmates in the first term. They would stalk me on twitter and then talk about me behind my back. They’d scrutinise me in any way they could. One of them told me about it.
Now, at home, this wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. I would laugh at them for being so pathetic, go out with my friends, and move on from it. But here it felt as if their opinion really mattered; this was my first attempt at making it without my friends or family back home and I felt as if I’d massively fucked up. I thought ‘I must be fucking weird if people write me off immediately like that’.
Wrong. I’m not weird. People our age have low self-esteem and will pick at ANYTHING to get some sort of sense of superiority.
Teach yourself to react differently to shit friends, shit lecturers, shit circumstances. Don’t feel as if they’re a personal attack on you as a person. Be mindful of who you are and don’t let anyone take that away or try to diminish it. It’s precious.

I blocked my twitter, stopped giving them ammunition to talk about me, and maintained a civil but largely uninvolved relationship with them. I feel so much better for it. I only have one or two good friends here, but that’s enough. Just take things as they come and appreciate the people who make an effort with you.

Only you can change things. You can’t rely on anyone else to pick you up. So I started exercising a lot. About 4 times a week. I started writing for the student newspaper, and made baby-steps with talking to new people. I still haven’t met many people that I really click with, and I don’t socialise nearly as much as I normally do back home. I’ve only had one night out in 4 weeks. But I’m happy. I’m focusing on the future; I’ve applied to teach in Germany this summer and I’m enjoying my course, which is the most important thing. I learn first aid on thursdays.
These tiny, tiny changes really do help.

If you don’t feel as if you have anyone, then just start talking to someone a bit more on your course. Sit next to someone different in a lecture, ask to borrow a pen. It sounds ridiculous I know! But you HAVE to be pro-active when you’re unhappy. I say this from experience, I promise you.

My flatmates are still giving me a hard time; I can’t do anything out of the ordinary without them picking at it. Someone had accidentally been using my milk so I left a polite notice asking if people could please check which milk they were using beforehand. Someone wrote ‘NO’ on my note, and then I heard the girls bitching about it in the corridor, saying how pathetic I was being.

It’s difficult to ‘rise above’ stuff like this, but you have to. Come on here and rant about it, and then let it pass. That’s what I intend to do. People can only fuck you up if you let them.

Hope everything gets better for you guys.
(I expect I’ll probably be back here again to rant again soon)

fuck uni.

I hate the marking bias, hate the dickheads that make up 85% of the student base, hate the length of courses, the useless knowledge, hoop jumping, and worst of all that we are PAYING for it.

The word University itself has lost its original meaning, its meant to be about learning and instead its about drinking, sex and doing essays at the very last minute and getting pissy about it.

AAAAAGH! The only thing that has kept me sane is my girlfriend, otherwise the people here are just vacuous, superficial, STUPID, and often from private schools (though you aren’t all bad!) and are completely deluded about life and the real world. Seriously my course is hard to get into and some of the people here are SO FUCKING DUMB! It makes me furious, these dumb fucks get so much money thrown at them by their parents that they are guaranteed to get a University place – some gold from someone with multiple As at A level – “Erm, like why do you write the date on your lectures? I don’t get it” I mean WHAT THE FUUUCK kind of question is that!!!!!?

Aaaah, thats better.

This can’t be normal. A university should focus on helping you learn, not making you cram all the material into your brain and regurgitate it on an exam.

More importantly though, I hate my major. It is my parents choosing, not mine. I have ALWAYS made it clear to my family that I want to study political science. I have shown an interest in politics even since grade school, however since “political science can’t get you a job” I am stuck with accounting. I am attending a private university and simply would not be able to pay without my parents help.