College Student Stereotypes

Let’s start by looking into the dictionary. Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or an idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Society gets their stereotypes of college students from various sources, however; people who address these stereotypes to college students most of the time did not even go to college. It is easy to throw a population that you are not apart of into a certain category. Some of these stereotypes may be true to a portion of college students, but these stereotypes society has labeled college students should not define each student individually.

Two huge stereotypes that are seen as the top stereotypes of college students are procrastinators and they party every night.

Partying. Do not get us wrong, most of us have an awful hangover from the night before. Most of us go out a lot more often than others, but partying every single night is a little out of control. Movies show campus dorms and frat house always having loud music and alcohol everywhere. Partying is a stereotype that will stick with college students forever, that does not mean that every student does it.

Most people think that college students wait until the last minute to do all of their work (probably because they think we were out partying all night). Little do these people realize is that the students doing hours of work and your local coffee shop actually has been working on their project all week. To graduate within four years, students need to take anywhere from 15 to 18 credit hours. That is having five to six classes to attend, study for and keep up with all assignments. Not only are college students expected to graduate within four years, but they also need to have a strong resume built. Resume building involves extracurricular activities, internships, executive boards positions, and a job. Job? Yes, college students need to have a job to have money. We are not all broke and lazy like the other stereotypes address us as.

Are you feeling bad yet for labeling these young adults yet?

These are just the top two stereotypes that I continuously see. I think that society needs to have a more open mind when talking about college students. College students also need to do their job and try to destroy the stereotypes. Stereotypes overall, need to be stopped because each person is their own individual matter their class, race, gender, age or lifestyle.