The Shaping of the College Experience by Lisa

The Shaping of the College Experience by Lisa - April 2020 Scholarship Essay

Universities are often defined academically; they're evaluated by the content and rigor of their courses. The prestige of a college is linked to the academic academic accomplishments of the students, but the furthering of one's education is not the only benefit to attending a university despite the prevalence of the topic. The "college experience" provides maturing individuals with the opportunity to exercise a vital form of independence. College provides an integral shaping experience that allows individuals to grow and develop into highly functional members of society through organic interactions within a microcosm of general society.
Larger campuses are more likely to provide the particularly enriching experience of interacting with peers with differing perspectives. Exchanges with these peers are not only commonplace in the "real world" but also integral to developing the necessary social skills to encountering ideological debate. These skills consist of the ability to smartly present one's perspective, rationally critique a differing perspective, and calmly reach an agreeable consensus of some kind. Of course, it can be pointed out that the internet already provides the ability to engage with a broad population; however, the scathing matches of digital media are not the breeding grounds of a mature mindset. This latter point has been developed by implication that the inability to physically interact with one's own competitor impedes judgement. In other words, interactions with the diverse population of the internet does not yield the same benefits of interactions with the broader and more realistic population of a university campus; the fact that campuses are physical locations is a major contributor to this difference.
Furthermore, in addition to course exams, college is a test of self-sufficiency. For many individuals, college is the first time that independence may be exercised freely. This freedom (or burden depending on one's personality) is most directly represented by a distance barrier that characterizes many coming-of-age movies in Western culture. Western culture also has a tendency to consider an individual of "college-age" to be just mature enough to act on their own agendas. This perception is supported by the term "emerging adulthood", a phase of life that is often observed in well-developed, Western cultures. This phase often begins at the age of eighteen and ends towards the mid-twenties. It is characterized by a strain between mixed feelings of dependence and independence and a transition of responsibilities for one's own physical and emotional well-being. In short, emerging adulthood is what the college experience cultivates due to cultural traditions. Western culture dictates that during an individual's college career, the individual should face the challenges of providing for and managing oneself with minimal aid from the nurturing figures of that individual's childhood and adolescence. By the end of their college career, an individual should emerge as an objectively functional adult.
College is a valuable life experience. The greater exposure to the general population and expectation of responsibility for oneself is what allows the "college experience" to be a formative experience. In essence, individuals are able to practice vital social functions that characterize adult life in the minimized and more controlled setting of a college campus.