What is

Your Life on Campus Like?

Check your type of campus life is desirable or not

As the new semester has started, CNU campus is full of vigor these days. Freshmen must flutter with new hopes and dreams as they are experiencing campus life for the first time. Some students may worry a little about the start of a new semester, but most students may be concerned of how they spend the entire semester. In fact, there are various activities such as curricular and extra-curricular ones in which today’s students should be active or be interested. They should also try to have good relationships with a variety of new people that will be met this year. For these reasons, freshmen are very busy doing diverse activities on campus, but sometimes they need to take a look back on their campus life. Then, consider this question, what is your campus life like? Do you have any desirable role modes for a better life? Chonnam Tribune identified different types of CNU students’ campus life based on their main activities during the semester by conducting a sticker survey on January 29. You can check if your campus life type is desirable or not by comparing it with various type of CNU students’ campus life in this article. Let’s examine some campus life examples closely.

Changes in Student’s Life on Campus

The primary role of universities in modern society changes under the influence of external circumstances to meet the need of the times. Universities used to be designated the sanctuary of learning, the so called “ivory tower” in the days gone by. The main and social function of universities was to pursue truth and to educate students. However, it has changed little by little. Currently, universities seem to be a sanctuary of preparing for employment. The percentage of employment among university students has lowered in past years, and it is difficult for them to get a job after graduation. Under these circumstances, universities have to provide diverse curricular and extra-curricular programs for their students to strengthen their competitiveness in the job market. The style of university student’s campus life has also changed. Today’s university students are required to have good grades and a variety of qualifications to demonstrate competence in use of a foreign language, like English, and to have practical experience in their academic field. The reason for this change is that companies now demand that graduates have both knowledge and practical experience for getting a job. Moreover, the rights, freedoms, and tastes of individual students is regarded as more important than before in our society, and students want to satisfy their desires and to meet the needs of different situations. Accordingly, it is hard to classify their campus life into categories based on their main activities during the semester.

Campus Life Style of CNU Students

What do CNU students think about their lifestyle on campus? What kinds of activities are they concentrating their attention on during the semester? According to the results of the sticker survey that 245 students answered, CNU students were categorized into five types focusing on their main activities as the followings in order; ‘Activist’, ‘Crammer’, ‘Outsider’, ‘Hanryang (pleasure seeker)’ and ‘Working Student’ type.

Firstly, 36% answered that they vigorously participate in campus club activities and all kinds of school events and get delightful and valuable experiences. They think that they could have chances to meet many people and obtain useful information through such various activities. Therefore, the first type is most appropriately named ‘Activist’ type. The grade of respondents who belong to the type varied from sophomore to senior. Research indicates that they are severely scolded by their parents if they neglect studying due to participation in diverse activities on campus. They think it is very important to take part in club activities and other university events and they enjoy these activities. Park Yu-jin (Sophomore, Dept. of Early Childhood Education) said, “Mingling with members of my club and study group, I can get useful information. I also get pleasure from the activities that I am doing with them together.”

In the second category, 27% answered that they spent their most time on studying and doing assignments. The respondents who belong to the second type, ‘Crammer’, are students who decided to spend their campus life for getting a good grade and preparing for their better future, especially in the beginning of the semester. This type is called a ‘Model Student’ type, too. This type of student shows a reserved strength during the mid and final exam terms because their predictions on examination questions are usually certain. So, many students want to become intimate with them whenever the exam term is coming. Lee Seul-gi-na (Sophomore, Dept. of Fine Arts) said, “Whenever I see the scene that many students are studying hard in university libraries, I think I should be prompt to study hard and obtain more information needed for my competitiveness. As you know, the reason is that it is so hard to get a job after graduation.”

The third category is named ‘Outsider’ and 20% answered that they do not belong to a particular club or group

on campus and enjoy living alone in their own personal world. As they have not adjusted well to life on campus, it is hard to see them except in class. Though many students feel shame for living life on campus alone as an outsider in days gone by, the times have changed. These days, an outsider is not regarded as an eccentric person, but as a person of strong character. In fact, it is common to see a student drinking a cup of coffee in a café alone or eating alone in a restaurant. Jeong Ga-yeong (Junior, Dept. of Economics) said, “I think that outsiders have both merits and faults. They can live as they want to schedule their lives without being disturbed by others, but they might be suffering from a lack of personal relationships.”

The fourth type is ‘Hanryang’ and 12% answered that they are free with their money and live an idyllic life. Students of the ‘Hanryang’ type want to enjoy pleasure of life and romanticism of youth. They often think that university students deserve to play freely as they studied hard to enter into university during their high school days. Unless they, as a student, should pay attention to their campus life such as learning and studying hard and participating in various university events, they would regret having done such a thing during their university days. One student said, “I love spending a lot of time with my friends at many kinds of parties and attend them when I just entered university. Nowadays, it causes serious harm to my health and academic performance. I realize that I have to restrain myself to improve my life.”

Finally, the ‘Working Student’ type (5%) strives to find part

time jobs in order to acquire practical experiences for employment and to make enough for tuition fees, or pocket money. Students prefer getting part time jobs during the vacation than during the semester because they have more spare time on vacation. Though the portion of this type is the smallest among the the survey results, it is a general tendency for many students to want to get a part time job. Among university students, the following conversation becomes common: “Let’s go play!” “I am afraid I can’t. I should go to a part time job now.” Kim Min-ji (Sophomore, Dept. of Music) said, “A part time job seems to be good to make some pocket money and to gain valuable experience. Many university students try to find a part time job from a restaurant for extra-curricular work on campus.”

How Do You Live Your Campus Life?

How do freshmen want to live their campus life? Kim Su-hwan (Freshman, Dept. of French Language and Literature) said, “I want to be a ‘Hanryang’ type only this year because I am a freshman, and I will change my style to the ‘Working Student’ type to make pocket money by having a part time job during the semester terms. I know that CNU operates many overseas training programs. I want to participate in these programs to have more considerable insight.” Most freshmen have a lot of expectations of their university life. Then, what do seniors advise freshmen to do? Ban Hye-yun (Senior, Dept. of Korean Language and Literature) said, “My parents said that winning a scholarship is saving money on tuition fees. So, I am not a ‘Working Student’ in my school days. I study hard during the semester instead of getting a part time job to make pocket money, and then I received a full scholarship when I was a sophomore. But I think there is nothing to special in my campus life on second thought. It seems to be good for freshman that they do their best to do whatever they want to.” She added, “Enjoy the present.” It means that if you choose to study hard, loving and getting part time jobs, you have to pay no attention to the other things. It is impossible that you are good at everything. We cannot help doing the best thing you want to do at present.

What is Your Style?

The interesting results from the survey are that the type of campus life varies according to students’ grade. They have a tendency to change their lifestyle on campus differently from lower grades to higher ones. Most respondents who were sophomores and juniors were classified into the ‘Activist’ type, and they enjoy a variety of activities on campus. The typical type of senior was the ‘Crammer’ type. It is reported that even freshmen worry about employment after graduation. Nowadays, most students have to study hard for employment. It will add more pressure to seniors before graduation.
As above-mentioned, CNU students’ style based on their main activities during the semester is diverse. What type does your campus life fall into? Maybe you live a desirable campus life until now. You had better know that the most desirable type is a compromise among all the types. It is difficult to play thoughtlessly. It is difficult to spend campus life only studying. And it is hard to live alone. It is hard to live without your own time. Therefore, it might be better to spend your campus life by various lifestyles. 


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