How accepting are people in college?

[DFedison]

There's still quite some time before I go away to college, but this is something I've been wondering about lately. Do any of you guys have experiences you could share? Friends you made? Were you worried about it, and did most of the people turn out to be nice?

[prao]

For me, one good thing in college, as compared to high school was that people were more mature and tended to be more aware about stuttering. As a result, nobody ever teased me (or even giggled/smirked/laughed when i stuttered) in both college and graduate school.

However, in college it is likely that you would have to give more presentations, interact a lot more in classes, etc . Not that this is a bad thing, but i usually stutter a lot more during presentations.

[grantM]

From my experience as both a student and lecturer, people in general at uni are very accepting and are of course adults. There may be the odd few who are not but they exist in all facets of everyday life.

[emily445455]

I was covert most of my college years, but when I finally didn't hide it as much people were real nice about it.

[Sarah11085]

From my experience in college, YES people are much more mature than in high school. I NEVER had any problems with giving presentations. No one ever laughed, snickered or did anything of the sort. They sat and waited patiently for me to get out the word. In case you were wondering my type of stuttering is blocking. I never had any issues with professors either. I wish I had been at a place with my stuttering where I was comfortable self-advertising in college (telling people you stutter). I would highly recommend it because it gives yourself permission to stutter, and I really need that. It help takes off the pressure of coming across as fluent. I made some awesome friends in college! Here is a quote from one of my friends, "I don't really give a second thought to stuttering in the sense of ... if someone has something to tell me ... I want to hear it. I don't care if it might take two more seconds ... I just love when people talk to me :o)

I think of you as Sarah ... I never thought of you as "the girl who stutters".

Hope this helps. If you have more questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

[Markyboy]

Been in college for two years now, been fine so far. Only until recently did someone ever laugh because of my stutter, and he doesn't speak English, so i don't even really realized what was going on. Most people are patient with me, I have had a few people i talk to just say nevermind when answering a question, but at least they never laughed right in my face.

[JFan]

I had a crappy college experience at UConn.....but that's just me. I'm sure there will be numerous positive remarks by other people.

[Ziggyjoe21]

I had a public speaking class this past semester. Had to give 2 speeches on your own, and 1 one as group. The teacher, and the class was very accepting and kind. She even gave me the option of presenting my speech 1 on 1 with her.

They are very accepting in college.

Good luck.


Also, if u don't mind me asking, where are you going for college?

[happy7117]

I only went to a local college near where I live called Onondoga College which is located in Syracuse, NY. I went to OCC in Jan 1998 for the spring semester to finish my senior yr. of high school. I got done with h.s. a semester early- Jan. insted of June, and I needed a way to fill the time between finishing h.s. a semester early untill untill grad. in June.

So I went to OCC for 4 non-credit beginner courses. I did realy awesome academicaly. But socaily because of the stuttering, I was a frusterated disfluent wreck. So many very beautiful girls there to socailize with, and I wanted to make an awesome impression of myself each and ever day for class I was there.

I only made a couple friends-one very beautiful girl named Julia, and the other- a guy named Todd. They were realy nice and wicked kind. I sort of wish we didn't lose contact after I completed the semester. They seemed to have no qualms about the stuttering. That made feel a little better, but still I hated making them uptight and tense because of the stutter.

I miss Julia dearly especialy though. She was so awesome, and wicked beautifull. She was so easy to talk to inspite of unfun stupid stuttering. I wish I knew what she was up to now!! I still can't find her on and I continue to search!!

So to answer your question-- I think after high school, girls and/or guys tend to grow up a little and they don't act like high-schoolers trying to fit in. It's like we all do are own thing in college. At least, that is what I gathered from the semester I was there at OCC.

College students I don't think will mind if you are shy because of the stutter, yet I don't think they will mock you or make jokes if you do stutter. But that's just my opinion! Good luck!

[RayJ]

Hello, Dfedison.

It's good to tell the people who're helping you get into college about your speech impediment. I know you probably don't want to be treated differently from other students but it's helpful to let them know you have a speech impediment. They can then relay this to your teachers so they won't put you on the spot to speak in front of a bunch of people. I told my professor today on a piece of paper she handed out on 'additional comments your instructor should know' and told her I have a mild stutter. Regardless, I still want to try to give a presentation for my computer class and see if I can handle it. I go to Rasmussen, its a college that offers small class sizes ( 12-20 students ) as opposed to 100+. Bruce Willis said he overcame his stutter by auditioning for a role. He said something along the lines of, speaking in front of a crowd and being put on the spot helped him conquer his stuttering problem. I'm going to tryout for this rap battle league thats sweeping youtube right now called grindtimenow.com to see if I can possibly have the same luck. If your classmates look down on you because of a speech impediment than they aren't worth befriending. Bring it to peoples attention, as hard as it may be, it's helped me to some degree with being more comfortable.

Best Wishes,
Ray.

[Rich]

There's still quite some time before I go away to college, but this is something I've been wondering about lately. Do any of you guys have experiences you could share? Friends you made? Were you worried about it, and did most of the people turn out to be nice?

I lived in the dorms and I think that really helps to make friends because it forces people together. I made lots of friends in College. Some I am still in contact with many years later.

Here are some thoughts:

Most people are nice, some are jerks, and some people are somewhere in between.

Most people will not (at least not consciously) refuse to be friends with someone because they stutter. People may react surprised by your stuttering and may seem standoffish at first but give them the benefit of the doubt.

Meeting new people makes me nervous. I find it helps a lot to ask people about themselves and their life. “Where are you from? etc.” People love to talk about themselves so let them. Make eye contact and ask lots of follow up questions. It will take the pressure off of you and allow you to relax.

Be willing to put yourself out and don’t worry about your stuttering. Being upfront about your stuttering helps “I have a bit of a stuttering problem” and I find it makes me stutter less.

I made lots of friends by asking people to meet in the library to study together. Studying alone gets boring and people will welcome the opportunity to study with someone. I also find I would study more if I was with people because it’s almost like peer pressure to study. Difficult to explain.

Bottom line is if you want to make friends in college you have to be proactive. Friends and boyfriends/girlfriends don’t magically show up at your door. You have to be ready to interact with people. If you are a good person people will see past the stuttering.

[LostBoyd]

For me, one good thing in college, as compared to high school was that people were more mature and tended to be more aware about stuttering. As a result, nobody ever teased me (or even giggled/smirked/laughed when i stuttered) in both college and graduate school.

However, in college it is likely that you would have to give more presentations, interact a lot more in classes, etc . Not that this is a bad thing, but i usually stutter a lot more during presentations.

This sums up my experience pretty well, except since I went to a rather large college and I was in engineering I did a lot less interacting in classes than I did in high school. I did have to do more presentations, but my classmates were always very understanding. I also found out a little later on that I could almost always get out of doing them if I e-mailed the Prof. and explained my situation. I would then have to substitute something that was equivalent but non-vocal (probably not a good practice in general unless you have extreme difficulty like I do.)

Overall, other people were more comfortable with my stuttering in college than in high school.

[DFedison]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Sarah, that's pretty deep, and very encouraging to hear. That last bit you mentioned about people thinking of you as you and not as someone who stutters ... that's really cool. One question: how educated would you say people were about stuttering? Or did you have to do most of the educating when you met people?

As for what college I'm thinking about, I really haven't narrowed it down. I'm looking mostly in the Northeast, so it's probably going to come down to a college up there that has the right coursework to fit my interests.

[Sarah11085]

DFedison, I would say they probably didn't know anything about stuttering. My whole time in college I never talked about stuttering ever! I couldn't hide the fact that I stuttered and people were just patient with me. They really didn't seem to care that I stuttered even though I thought about it all the time. And since I never talked about stuttering I obviously didn't educate anyone about it. There are people who care about who you are and not about your stuttering.

[LostBoyd]

One question: how educated would you say people were about stuttering? Or did you have to do most of the educating when you met people?

In my experience, stuttering is completely new to most people in college. Many of these people, however, have been exposed to other kinds of disabilities so there is often some kind of understanding.

[chris420]

what ray said is true. i actually droped out of high school because of my teacher picked me 2days in a row to go up in front of the class and act out a job interview... i skiped the second day and then just quit going. i just have alot of bad luck overall with my stuttering now adays.