'Are high school students actually this clueless and entitled?': Academic Advisor Calls Out Unprepared College Freshman Students

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 4, 2026 5:15 PM EDT

What's going on with the college freshman class that's making this academic advisor so concerned? 

College students need lots of help navigating their first year of school. 

Some kids arrive without knowing how to do their own laundry. Some are so used to Mom and Dad waking them up for class that they oversleep for their 9 AM classes. Others are well-adjusted more or less, but still get anxious, and need reassurance about their path through their first semester or 2. Not to mention that a lot of college students enter without being 100% sure of their major. 

An orientation leader can really help out in some of these situations. In fact, a lot of colleges enroll their freshmen in a mandatory class dedicated just to navigating through the twists and turns of university life. 

But this academic advisor is very, very concerned about the latest crop of students that have been walking through the doors of the school. The advisor, lizz781, did not mince words in a post to r/Teachers: the kids are totally unprepared for their college journey in a way that they've never witnessed before. 

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  • 01
    Group of college freshman walk through the campus halls together, as 5 models display.
    via Getty Images

    Group of college freshman walk through the campus halls together, as 5 models display.

  • 02

    Are high school students actually this clueless and entitled?

    So I am an academic advisor for a pretty big state university in the U.S. and we are currently having orientations.
    via lizz781
  • 03
    Lately, I have noticed how clueless and entitled freshmen have become. I have had so many orientation students argue with me that they don't have to take a certain requirement bc they took it in high school. For example, I
    via lizz781
  • 04
    University student is engrossed in her phone while sitting outside with friends, as a model depicts.
    via Getty Images

    University student is engrossed in her phone while sitting outside with friends, as a model depicts. 

  • 05
    had a student argue with me that they do not need a specific core class bc they were in band in high school??? Others have said that they should not take a math class bc they took high school math???
    via lizz781
  • 06
    Then I get students complaining to me that their AP Credits or dual credits have not been posted to their accounts and when I ask them when they submitted, they do not know and that someone submitted it for them??? I was in
    via lizz781
  • 07
    College freshman girl snaps a selfie of her and her friends on the university grounds, in a representation by models.
    via Getty Images

    College freshman girl snaps a selfie of her and her friends on the university grounds, in a representation by models.

  • 08
    high school in 2018 and we had to submit our own stuff. There was someone helping us, but we would be the ones submitting our AP scores, applications, etc.
    via lizz781
  • 09
    Talking to them has become like talking to a wall. Oh and my favorites are the ones who use chat gpt to search for EVERYTHING. I had a student who told me that they wanted to switch majors bc chat gpt told them
    via lizz781
  • 10
    Academic advisor and a student work together in a library setting, as represented by 2 models.
    via Getty Images

    Academic advisor and a student work together in a library setting, as represented by 2 models.

  • 11
    I am working on my EC-6 teacher certification and I have seen how kids behave in elementary school, which is no different than the college students.
    via lizz781
  • 12
    How do you guys even manage to stay sane??? Teacher do deserve more respect and money than they currently get.
    via lizz781

  • These kids seem extra confused in a way that college students probably should not be. 

    Though there are many factors to blame, I'm sure relying on Ai to solve every little problem can quickly weaken a strong brain. The brain is a muscle, after all. If you're constantly outsourcing your own thoughts to an agent, you're losing the ability to think critically and to problem solve. 

    It's odd that the students are having trouble understanding what should be straightforward, yes or no issues. Like, no you cannot apply your high school band course as credit towards a core class. That's just one example this person gave. Why can the students not understand why their high school experience wouldn't apply to their college experience? They are at college to take classes and fill their brains with extra knowledge, not just to regurgitate what they already learned from their high school years. 

  • 13

    Teachers weighed in with really insightful thoughts about the students of today and tomorrow

    Specific_Gas4322 They are, I'm a high school teacher. I will tell you the truth, most kids are nowhere near ready for college. The system is broken.
    via Specific_Gas4322

    This seems to be a thought that's on a lot of teachers' minds these days. 

  • 14

    Some of these anecdotes are next-level worrisome

    III-Quote3776 As someone who works in college admissions/registration - we have students call every day asking why they aren't able to sign up for classes. When we ask them if they have applied to the school, they say they didn't know they had to apply. Dude.
    via III-Quote3776
  • 15
    ADHTeacher Yeah, a lot of my students, most of whom are college- bound, don't know how to do basic sh and have seemingly no interest in learning. Their last essay of the semester was due last night, and I'm still dealing with kids who "didn't know" it was due on Canvas, "don't know how" to upload a word
    via ADHTeacher
  • 16
    doc or PDF to Canvas, "forgot" their work cited page, etc. Their email "won't work," therefore they also couldn't notify me of uploading issues. What have they done to fix their email? "It never works, I don't know. It's just always weird." One student couldn't work on their essay because "my wifi wasn't working." When I asked why they needed wifi
    via ADHTeacher
  • 17
    to use a word processor, they got huffy and told me that "word wouldn't open." (ETA: Yes, I've seen this student's version. They have desktop access.) Some of it is tech illiteracy, because tech is so easy to use now that they've never had to learn basic troubleshooting. Some of it is the "grace," i.e. coddling and handholding, they've
    via ADHTeacher
  • 18
    grown accustomed to over their years in school. (I'm not against giving grace, I do it all the time with kids who are genuinely going through something, but I also don't baby them.)
    via ADHTeacher
  • 19

    Another big issue in the school system is that none of these kids are getting left behind, even when they literally fail their classes

    Aware_Negotiation605 This just validates everything I tell my seniors. Our current school system is completely failing them for life outside of high school and many of them are going to be shocked. Sorry. We had to pass them.
    via Aware_Negotiation605

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