10 College Urban Legends (Part I)

Chances are that if you’re a college freshman or just going into college, you’ve heard lots of legends ranging from how students have cheated on SAT exams to a Biology class faux pas.  Here is a list of the most frequent myths you’ll probably here about – whether it is a group of kids discussing how funny and absurd they are, or that guy who is trying to convince people this is something his cousin did – so read up because you don’t want to be left out in the cold on these.

10. “Dude, you get 200 points just for signing your name!”
Whether or not this should be on the list is questionable, but it is a legend told so often that it really needed a spot.  The myth that you get 200 points for signing your name correctly on the SAT isn’t true; it just so happens that the way the test is scored doesn’t allow for anyone to score less than a 200, because if they do, the scores are not recorded. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you better start hitting the books!

9. Rejecting a Rejection
This one is usually told around the time that people are getting their acceptance / rejection letters.  Typically it’s told to somebody after an especially disappointing rejection. The way it goes is like this: a student applied to several schools, mostly reaches, some matches, and a safety or two. Not only was he rejected from his reaches, and almost all of his matches, but from one of the safety schools as well. In a moment of frustration, he wrote a letter to the reach schools, rejecting their rejection letters. One of these schools (supposedly Yale) was so impressed with his creativity and motivation that they decided to admit him after all.

8. Read Your Textbook, Win A Car
Ever wondered why you should bother reading every last detail of your 600-page textbook? Chances are you have thought about this, and haven’t come up with a good reason to do so. Well, this true story might just change your mind.  In 2001 a Yale student was reading the fine print of his textbook and found a publisher’s note congratulating him for being perseverant and offered him a chance to win a car if he sent his name and address to the publisher.  Sure enough, he did just that, and being only one of five students to submit his address, he was selected as the student to win a 1965 Thunderbird.

7. Pass the Salt
This is a fun story that gets told, mostly by guys, in high school and college biology classes, when the subject matter at hand is the male anatomy.  This is one of those stories where guys claim it happened in their cousin’s class, although you can be almost certain that isn’t true.  Legend has it that the professor was explaining that male semen is composed of nearly 80% sugar, to which a female student asked, “If semen is mostly sugar, then how come it tastes so salty?” Off-color? Yes. Hilarious? Yes.

6. Do You Have Any Idea Who I Am?
This urban legend found its way into Hollywood with the college movie Slackers, so if you’ve seen it you’ve heard of this little trick before.  In a lot of big lecture-oriented classes, often times the professor won’t know most of the students by name or face.  Legend has it that at the end of a final exam in one of these courses, one student refused to turn in his test when the teacher called “time” because he was finishing up his work on the last problem.  Taking too long, the professor refused to accept the student’s exam.  The student, not fazed, waltzed up to the front desk and asked, “Do you have any idea who I am?”  In a class of over 100 people, the teacher admitted he had no idea, and was rather taken aback by the audacity of the student.  The student simply shoved his test booklet into the middle of the stack on the teacher’s desk, flipped them onto the floor creating a chaotic mess, and walked away.

Update: Be sure to check out 10 College Urban Legends (Part II)!

POSTED BY Joe Campus IN Funnies, Student Views

07.14.08

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