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Comment by tapanjk | Hacker News Reader

Well said. This should be part of orientation for every new college student.

I feel like this "get ready to be surrounded by peers for the first time" or the related "you aren't used to working hard, but now you will actually have to work hard" speech was given to me in some form at the start of high school, college, grad school, and in many other contexts and intermediate milestones. It wasn't ever completely true, but I think if I went for a PhD it would (obviously) have finally been true.

To be clear, I'm not saying I was always smarter than people around me, I just felt like I never had to work as hard as I suspected even through my Masters program.

Perhaps we should replace this messaging with "You may find that you won't have to work hard to get through X, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't." Educators don't have the time or ability to set up an incentive scheme that makes you "have to" work your hardest, but it gets more rewarding at each level.

Bingo. You can breeze through all levels of education with a combination of personality and picking the right courses. Your faculty tend to be overworked and underpaid for the work they do. You are one of hundreds. They do not exist to make sure you're actually learning anything, just that you can spit back the course content appropriately.

But once you get over the barrier to entry for most white-collar jobs (bachelor degree), what's the point? If you're not getting anything out of the education, you're only borrowing trouble from yourself in the future.

My bachelor's was relatively easy. My masters was MASSIVELY difficult. The PhD was even harder.

Because I sought out those difficulties.

100%. And if you aren't seeking out those difficulties, maybe your chosen degree program is not the correct choice for you right now.

along with basic hygiene

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