My College Experience (Main Focus: The Social Scene)

[Steve A]

As told by me: an upcoming senior with high functioning autism (HFA)

When I first moved on campus, I was ready for a "fresh start", when compared to high school. Everything was going well for me, (social life & academics), even though I had a slight adjustment period during my first 1-2 years of college. After that, I finally made some improvement, but I still missed some social cues here & there:

Now, being introduced to the party scene was something that intrigued me. However, I noticed a pattern over my college career so far: Outside of drinking, party etiquette is something that I have a hard time understanding at times, along with some confidence issues as well. Furthermore, I had no problem talking to people, but only if recognize them or know them from class/my dorm building. As of today, I have little to no problems with starting and keeping conversations with random guys & girls at parties. Finally, even though I learned how to act less "awkward" at parties by just approaching people without worrying about rejection, especially from girls, I prefer to make it clear to them that I'm just looking to meet some new people.

I also don't have any issues with alcohol because it doesn't affect my academics at all, plus I only drink during parties & off campus events. However, I'm slightly picky when it comes my own drinking habits: For example, I don't like beer at all, but anything made/mixed with liquor, or any malt beverage is fine by me. Furthermore, I don't get sick or blackout after a night of partying, I only drink until I have a nice buzz going.

So, do you have any experiences when comes to partying, hanging out with friends, or anything else related to college?

 

[Progster]

I didn't go to a lot of parties when I was at university. Parties were never my 'thing'. I always felt that I was just tagging along on the fringe, not really a part of what was going on, with them but apart. I couldn't join in group conversations and rarely spoke to people unless they spoke to me first. I had a lot of social anxiety.

However, I do have one or two positive experiences, things that worked for me. The first was a card game that some other students in my hall had invented to which every member contributed. Instead of the traditional clubs, diamonds, spades, etc they used alternative names - the names of people who had made a significant contribution to the sciences or arts. It was fun. I'm better at socialising based on an activity, rather than just hanging out and talking.

I made friends with one or two individuals, but never belonged to a friend group. My friends were mainly people who, for one reason or another, were also alone or on the fringes. Geeks and/or oddballs. A couple were probably on the spectrum too. One of these fringe friends threw a party on completing his PhD. But not the usual kind of party. He had a whole load of old computers (PCs) and some screwdrivers, and we were to take these apart! Disassembly. That was some of the most fun I have had in my entire life!

 

[rubicks52]

I'm also a rising senior. The party scene is a bit unusual at my school, but I'm still not a huge fan of it. The music is super loud and the parties consist of a bunch of drunk sweaty people crowding around you while dancing. Plus I just hate dancing.

 

[Misery]

Huh, sure different from my experiences.

I've been to two colleges. One is a community college, the other is not. The one that isnt came first. I was after my associates degree in computer science (which I got) and, well... yeah, I'll say it's the direct opposite of what alot of people are thinking of when it comes to college. The place was very professional. VERY professional. And they expected that of everyone. You could call it a business college, which it probably was. A very serious place. No parties, no joking around. You went in there and you did your stuff. Now this is in an area that's already full of lots of STUFF... this is not the sort of campus that's out in a huge area that's mostly just the campus, so there's no on-campus living sites. There's already plenty of apartments/housing nearby, so they dont bother with that (also it wouldnt fit... this is REALLY close to the mall, there's no way they could fit a "traditional" campus in there). The sorts of people that went there though... you could tell just from being around them that they werent the stereotypical college students. Again, business college... attracts a certain sort of person. This was all just fine by me.

The other was a community college. Again, no on-campus living. I have no idea if stuff was held there. I was only there for a few very, very specific classes for... some reason. It made sense at the time, I'm sure.

The most unusual thing about my college experence though was the bit with the hotels. The business college was going through a whole big pile of renovations to the related buildings. Pretty messy for awhile. But it also meant that alot of sections were inaccessible. So that meant they had to move the classes elsewhere... and that meant holding them in hotels. I'd often have to drive out to the middle of who knows where to some hotel I didnt know existed, and go and have the class in one of the event rooms there. It was odd, but it did the trick. They managed to get everything set up there somehow, and it worked.

There, so that's my experiences with it. Not the norm. But that's fine. The only way you'd get me to a party or social function is if you put a gun to my head. And even that wouldnt guarantee it. And I wont touch alcohol with a 2000 foot pole. So that all worked out quite well.

 

[joe2006]

I did not do very many parties while I was in college but I do recall going to a small party that a professor told me about. This was a party for gamers and everyone was in one of the computer labs playing a multiplayer game against each other. It was one of those action shooter type games. I played for a little while but then got tired of this game and quit playing. The professor told me they had a bunch of food in one of the break rooms for the student to eat and I went in to get something to eat. When I got my food, I tried to sit back down in front of the computer I was using but this boy told me that they did not allow food in the computer labs. I asked why they were serving food in there if they were not supposed to eat it and he said nothing but the professor told me I could eat it in the break room. I thought that was such a dumb rule I just took my food back to the dorm room and ate it there. It was a fun party while it lasted.