Stuff college students...

For years, college life has been surrounded by mythical legends of things that college students supposedly like. Ramen noodles, coffee, dreadlocks. Sound familiar? The problem with these clichés is that times have changed, and college kids of today have a whole new proverbial palate. Based on my credentials of being a college student for five terms now, with almost one degree under my belt, I have compiled a whole new list of things college students today like and hate.

Stuff college students love

Rubber bracelets

I remember seeing the rubber bracelet first about six years ago when everybody had the yellow “Livestrong” on their wrist, to support Lance Armstrong and the fight against cancer.

Since that time, hundreds of other corporations and causes have crafted their own additions to the rubber bracelet collective.

Recently, the most popular of these seems to be the “I ♥ Boobies” bands from the cancer awareness organization www.keep-a-breast.org.

Whether someone is wearing a bracelet to say “I’m from the ‘Class of 2010,’” “I want to ‘Defeat breast cancer,’” “I ask myself ‘W.W.J.D.’” or to simply say, “Look at me, I wear rubber bracelets,” there’s no arguing the popularity of rubber bracelets within this age group. Hey, if Stephen Colbert can wear a red bracelet to support a yellow ribbon cause, so much the better.

Free stuff

...and big stuff that is free and small stuff that is free and stuff that we need that is free and stuff that we won’t ever use that is free. It doesn’t re­ally matter what it is, as long as it’s free. We all have “that one friend” who goes to every on-campus event, just for the free stuff. Free food at the Study-In? Sign me up. Free pens at the Portland State University transfer booth? I’m there. It’s not to say that college students are cheap, but when you’re in debt for thousands of dollars in tuition, it’s nice to get something for free.

Bands that no one has heard of

Different levels of obscurity exist when it comes to bands. First, there are lesser-known bands who have still managed some degree of a following, such as: The Hold Steady, Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend. Then comes the obscure of the obscure: The Droge and Summers Blend, Dynamite Boy, Lower Dens, The Sugar Beets, Dirty Heads, etc. The list could go on and on. For whatever reason, it seems like college-aged people are drawn to the obscure, more than the rest of the population. Maybe it gives us the feeling of being elite to know something that no one else around us knows, or maybe we just have extremely good taste, unrecognizable to those around us.

Graduation

Who cares if it may cost more now with some additional fees? The whole UCC tradition of donning a green robe (gives a whole new meaning to goin’ green, huh?), wearing a funny flat hat, and marching around the pool (now empty due to budget cuts) to the tune of teachers all clapping for you is just super cool. Somehow when you stand on that stage and get a diploma handed to you, all the pain of the last two years just fades away, and it’s all good.

Stuff college students hate

Rolling backpacks

I should clarify that not every student hates rolling backpacks, because obviously, a few students have them, making life miserable for all the haters. What makes rolling backpacks so horrible? I think it’s two things. First, the wheels can be heard by everyone on campus within a hundred foot radius. Secondly, they cause many foot-traffic jams. Getting stuck walking behind someone with a rolling backpack is not fun. It’s like being stuck behind someone hauling a trailer on the freeway, and waiting for a good opportunity to pass.

Not being able to find a parking space

I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I’m talking about any community college in particular, or speaking from personal experience at any community colleges that I have personally attended, but I have heard from reliable sources that full parking lots can cause major headaches for students trying to get to class on time. If you’re like me, and like to sleep in and sometimes find yourself in a rush to get to class on time, the last thing you want to find at your college is a full parking lot.

Getting D’s

If there’s one thing I will never understand about transcripts, it’s why D grades don’t count for them. And why not? It’s still a passing grade. Personally, I would rather end up with an F in a class than a D. At least with an F you have the finality of failing. An F says, “You failed the class, it’s not going on your transcripts, it’s not counting for anything. Goodbye.” Whereas, with a D, all I get is this weird feeling at the end of a term that says something more like, “Well, you passed the class, it just doesn’t count for anything.” It doesn’t make sense. I wish, if anything, that D’s either meant that you passed and it counts for a transcript, or that you failed and it doesn’t count for anything, instead of this weird, middle-ground ambiguity.

Computer Difficulties

You know what I’m talking about. It’s the one thing that can make a college student cry: technical difficulties. We hate them all — lag, slow Internet connection, the person in the library computer station next to you who won’t shut up, the person in the library computer station next to you watching youtube with music that makes you want to scream, Angel crashes (oh my goodness), printers that are perfectly capable of printing 100 pages of code but not a single page even remotely related to your homework, losing your flash drive with your entire term’s project on it, laptop warranties which run out the day before your hard drive crashes-- you know what I mean.

(Reporter’s disclaimer: None of the claims in this article are taken from actual research. However, if you love getting D’s and hate rubber bracelets, please see our piece on abnormal psychology in issue 37.1)

The Mainstream is a student publication of Umpqua Community College.