Going Out Your Freshman Year of College vs. Your Senior Year of College

When you are legal to drink, it's actually less fun than drinking underage and you don't even want to go out

Happy back to school season, kids! Freshman: welcome to four glorious years of freedom and fun before the real world punches you in the face. Seniors, our condolences regarding that upcoming life punch.

Senior year is hard. Trying to balance being a young twentysomething with an absolute loathing for all things overly wild is a difficult line to walk. There are a lot of things we've forgotten how to do by the time senior year rolls around and to be honest, going out is one of them.

Here are the glaring differences between our freshman enthusiasm and our senior apathy:

1. When Your Night Begins

Freshman Year:

"Holy s--t, there are so many pregames! First, let's stop at that one house with the good-looking guys. Next, we'll meet up with the people from our dorm. Ugh, and we should probably swing by the soccer team's house to say hi. Wow, it's only 9 p.m.?!? We. Are. DRUNK."

Senior Year:

"We need to make a wholesome dinner and probably take a nap before I venture out into the nightlife. Kids these days with their pregames and whatnot. 11 p.m. seems like a reasonable time to start my night, no?"

2. Seeing People You Like

Freshman Year:

"Hey girl! (Or 'friend,' 'cutie,' etc. because we can't remember your real name). Take a shot with me! Want to get dinner together in the dining halls tomorrow? I heard it's quesadilla night!"

Senior Year:

"Oh my goodness, hi! I haven't seen you in way too long. How was your summer? What does the job search look like? We should get a drink together some time (but heaven forbid we actually make concrete plans and follow through)."

3. Seeing People You Don't Like

Freshman Year:

"Okay, this can go one of two ways. We can pretend like we're friends when, in reality, we hate each other. Or, we can both get in a ridiculous fight in front of everyone. Wait, who are we kidding? We're 18 years old and are terrified of confrontation."

Senior Year:

"Oh. It's him. Let's just switch bars, I'm not in the mood to fight tonight. I'm too old for this."

4. Drinking Hard Alcohol

Freshman Year:

[Chants] "SKOL PULL. SKOL PULL. SKOL PULL. OMG did you just see Chad take Skol straight to the dome?"

Senior Year:

"Try this incredible bourbon. It has hints of orange and a spicy aroma and we got it on sale for only $30."

5. Drinking Beer

Freshman Year:

"How are we going to sneak this 30-pack of Natty Light past the RAs and security guard and into the dorm?"

Senior Year:

Senior: "Hey, have you tried that variety pack of craft beers from that local brewery? There's a 60-minute IPA that's to die for. We should go on a brewery tour soon!"

6. Greek Events

Freshman Year:

"Isn't Pike having an off-campus event tonight? We really should go. It'll look good that a bunch of us attended and maybe they'll want to pair with us for our next philanthropy event. We're desperately in need of cute fraternity boys to put in our dunk tank."

Senior Year:

"Let's go to that breast cancer awareness event, but only to support Becky. We should donate, but honestly, spring break comes first and we don't even have post-grad jobs secured yet! Seriously though, Becky should be grateful we're stopping by this event."

7. Choice of Venue

Freshman Year:

"There's an off-campus party, an on-campus party or drinking in our dorm room. Good lord, we should've taken the opportunity to get a fake I.D. when that shady friend-of-a-friend offered."

Senior Year:

"Isn't there a new bar that opened downtown? We also heard about a cool new dance club that apparently isn't too stuffy! You know what, forget it. We're try'na just stay home, drink beer and watch Star Wars."

8. When Your Night Ends

Freshman Year:

"Midterms are this week but YOLO. We're still figuring out how to balance our social life and schoolwork…But for now, we're young and energetic and there's still half a handle of Burnett's left!"

Senior Year:

"This can go two ways. One: We're feeling old and tired and would rather just snuggle up next to our significant other and get a good night's rest. Two: Let's justify staying out late because 'it's senior year and our time together is running out.' We'll stay up until 4 a.m. drinking and talking because we've found our best friends and want to spend as much time with them as humanly possible."

Good luck out there, freshman! A new life is beginning! And seniors? May god have mercy on your souls. The real world is coming for ya.