Notable Notes: 4 Years of College

Here's a brief summary of what happens in college (particularly La Salle), minus all the BS things they call "wholistic development" and "technical learning".

First Year - First year is just an extension of highschool in terms of subjects, with briefer courses, ROTC, which is like CAT/ACP but done on Saturdays. A sprinkle of basic major subjects can be found here and there, just to make sure people in your course didn't accidentally tick the wrong box in the application form. Classmates usually have a strong sense of affinity with each other, still working with the Highschool "we're the funnest section in school" dynamic, to the point that a Class president may even exist. A cold-war style arms race exists between students in terms of being able to "make pasikat" with the girls. Lunch in very large groups that for some reason, takes forever to decide where it needs to eat.


Second Year - Reality begins to sink in. In terms of subjects, the majors have taken the front act in terms of raping you academically. You'll probably notice that some of your classmates have unnoticeably just vanished from your building, while others have already been displaced by the failures they've incurred. Fun-loving block dynamic has also been replaced by the "hold on to the nearest bouyant classmate, we're in for a storm" mentality. The class president from the previous year forgets about ever having a class representative. From the looks of things, it's only a matter of time before there is no "class" left. The attitude of showing off fades. People who can't bow down and work in a group are usually wiped out fairly quickly in the game. Lunch in selected niches at a much more normal pace.

Third Year - The major subjects have taken their toll and it's not unusual to see blocks being too small to exist on their own. Blocks merge with each other, the way servers are merged when MMORPG players are starting to go extinct in a game. Your classes are basically comprised of a dozen or so people who are familiar to you and several faces who seem to appear in just that subject due to the high irregularity of their schedules. A general motif of "we will prevail" exists for those who are still in the block. The core "performers" in class are isolated and grouped with less capable ones to maximize the number of people who survive the semesters. At this point, people become too efficient with how they deal with problems as a group, capable of many unusual things like hive mentality, and "murder the nonperformer" acts. Lunch is already an optionally solitary activity. Also, practicum.

Fourth year - Major subjects have started to die down, to be replaced by minor subjects and a tentacled rape-monster we call Thesis. Blocks are practically irrelevant, as each student's social circle is reduced to two things: His barkada/thesisgroup, and the pyschiatrist/thesis adviser. Classes are usually attended only for formality's sake so very little unnecessary interaction exists between classmates. Very few of the original blockmembers exist, and people are starting to have a hard time who dropped out when. Other more stalwart individuals persist in existing, despite an assload of setbacks. Lunch is... lunch? what lunch?