Christian Best

Robert Arnold

UWRT 1101

2 November 2015

Ethnography Report (Stage Two)

Ethnography Research

I chose to watch multiple videos about the typical college freshmen stereotypes. These

stereotypes covered everything from the “freshmen 15”, move-in day, and the typical “I’m an

adult” mentality to the costs of textbooks, partying, and even making new friends. These videos

really helped shape and show understanding of a typical outsider’s perspective on the average

college freshmen and the lifestyle we live. They spoke about how every freshmen is afraid of

meeting new people on the first day, how many conflicts college roommates endure, how college

freshmen easily adapt to the party lifestyle, and how easy it is to begin skipping classes and

slacking on homework. I noticed that these videos failed to depict how college freshmen actually

act. They rarely focused on how many college freshmen actually do their work and focus on their

education. An average outsider usually assumes that all college freshmen come to college to

party, or are going to be changed into a party animal when they get to college. Of course these

videos did have some truth to them; most college freshmen are afraid when they first enter

college, we are very likely to gain the “freshmen 15”, and it doesn’t take long to switch into the

“I’m an adult and I can do whatever I want” mentality. I can understand why the typical

stereotype is that college freshmen only think about parties and being free because that is usually

the only part that gets the most attention, but outsiders must understand that there is more to the

college lifestyle.

Tentative Thesis Statement

Many people think that college freshmen only come to college to party; but in reality they don’t.

They do have the intention of being free but there are also college freshmen that care about their

education and their everyday life as well as their freedom.