Should I lie about my age in college?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the question of whether one should lie about their age or year in college, particularly in the context of social interactions and perceptions as a transfer student. Participants explore the implications of such a decision, including social dynamics and personal identity.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses frustration at being perceived as a freshman instead of a junior and considers lying about their year in school.
  • Another participant argues against lying, suggesting that curiosity about transfer students is natural and can be addressed through honest conversation.
  • Some participants humorously engage in a playful exchange about their ages, with several claiming to be very young or using nonsensical numbers.
  • There are comments suggesting that lying about age may be more common among women, with one participant noting that college seems too early for such behavior.
  • A later reply questions the validity of lying in general, suggesting it leads to a false persona.
  • Some participants share anecdotes about their experiences with age perceptions and how they cope with being mistaken for younger students.
  • Technical discussions arise about using mathematical concepts humorously in the context of age and identity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on whether lying about age is acceptable. There are competing views on the implications of such a decision, with some advocating for honesty and others suggesting that lying could be a viable option.

Contextual Notes

Some comments reflect playful banter and do not contribute to the main topic, while others introduce mathematical references that may not directly relate to the discussion of age and identity.

mobiusdafrost
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I'm a junior in college and just transferred to my new school. whenever i meet new people, they all seem very surprised that I am a junior not a freshman. I'm getting really fed up with this! I've been thinking about lying to people from now on: tellign them that I'm actually a sophmore
 
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uh......okay.
 
i'm 4
 
I really don't see the point in lying about your age or year in school. People are generally just curious and their surprise is a natural reaction as transfer students are typically rare in any undergraduate school. Just take some time to explain to people why you transferred, the curiosity will eventually dampen itself and you will become an inherent part of your new campus.
 
meh, he is 5, and the next person who posts should be 6 years old
 
What's next?So you're going to lie about whatever make people surprised about you and just turn to a person people expect you to be through lies?:-p
 
It depends on sex. If you are woman you start to lie about your age much earlier.

Still, college sounds a lot too early.
 
unless you can get sex by lying about your age. then college is the perfect time
 
mobiusdafrost said:
i've been thinking about lying to people from now on: tellign them that I'm actually a sophmore

Why don't you say that you are a sophomore and a liar ? :-p
 
  • #10
Why lie when a simple change of base can accomplish the same thing.

I'm 34.
 
  • #11
I am 13!
 
  • #12
BobG said:
Why lie when a simple change of base can accomplish the same thing.

I'm 34.

52?

I should explore numbers more.
 
  • #13
I am 10 then; this way I even don't have to remember my age :smile:
 
  • #14
I'm 38.












Hex
 
  • #15
no offense but you kind of sound like a tool. id get quite a kick out of it if people were thinking i was a freshmen. hell, i find it funny when the seventeen year old girls at school think I am a freshmen. here's what will really piss everyone off... what ever anyone says, just go along with it. no one will know what the hell is going on.
 
  • #16
I'm 2C
 
  • #17
lisab said:
I'm 2C
I can't wait 2C how that goes over at the DMV.
 
  • #18
rootX said:
I am 13!

Ouch, Even if those were seconds it is still a double life time.
 
  • #19
Andre said:
Ouch, Even if those were seconds it is still a double life time.

I was just punching up that number (FACT(13)) in Excel. :approve:
 
  • #20
turbo-1 said:
I can't wait 2C how that goes over at the DMV.

:rolleyes:

Of course, it would be fun to list your age as 2C, weight as 660 Newtons, and hair color as Natural Instincts #13. At least until they sent you back to the end of the line. :cry:
 
  • #21
BobG said:
:rolleyes:

Of course, it would be fun to list your age as 2C, weight as 660 Newtons, and hair color as Natural Instincts #13. At least until they sent you back to the end of the line. :cry:

I tend to think they've seen it all at the DMV -- including the jokers who think they're the first ones to ever put "YES" down for sex.
 
  • #22
Math Is Hard said:
I was just punching up that number (FACT(13)) in Excel. :approve:

Excel!?

Ha! I can punch up that number on my HP-27 hand held calculator (at least if I push the back in just right so the power switch stays on). My dad still held on to it after all these years and gave it to me last week. I received an abacus in a very nice wooden case from China (given to me by my sister) and a calculator all in the same week! :approve:
 
  • #23
BobG said:
Excel!?

Ha! I can punch up that number on my HP-27 hand held calculator (at least if I push the back in just right so the power switch stays on). My dad still held on to it after all these years and gave it to me last week. I received an abacus in a very nice wooden case from China (given to me by my sister) and a calculator all in the same week! :approve:

Was it your birthday?
I want an abacus really bad. I want a really pretty one that has semi-precious stones for the beads. :!)

I just happened to have Excel open to do my bean counting, so I thought I would see if it had a factorial function. I was kinda surprised that it did. I don't know why; there's not much I've asked it for that it didn't deliver.
 
  • #24
Math Is Hard said:
Was it your birthday?
I want an abacus really bad. I want a really pretty one that has semi-precious stones for the beads. :!)

I just happened to have Excel open to do my bean counting, so I thought I would see if it had a factorial function. I was kinda surprised that it did. I don't know why; there's not much I've asked it for that it didn't deliver.

First time home to see the family since I graduated. :biggrin:
 
  • #25
BobG said:
Excel!?

Ha! I can punch up that number on my HP-27 hand held calculator (at least if I push the back in just right so the power switch stays on). My dad still held on to it after all these years and gave it to me last week. I received an abacus in a very nice wooden case from China (given to me by my sister) and a calculator all in the same week! :approve:

At least with an abacus you don't have to worry about batteries or power switches staying on. :biggrin:
 
  • #26
I saw a documentary about a teacher here in America who decided to teach his students using an abacus and it was a huge success. It's amazing how fast they were and I don't understand it, but they regularly beat people using calculators.
 
  • #27
Moonbear said:
At least with an abacus you don't have to worry about batteries or power switches staying on. :biggrin:

I think I'd have a hard time doing factorials on an abacus, but I wouldn't say I'm a qualified user. It's fairly easy to do with a slide rule, although my accuracy is only good to within about 0.5% if I do it quickly (13 readings, summing them, and finding the antilog makes some error inevitable - in fact, if all of my readings rounded off in the same direction, I could wind up off by 2%, theoretically, but there's only a 0.012% chance of that happening).
 
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  • #28
tribdog said:
I saw a documentary about a teacher here in America who decided to teach his students using an abacus and it was a huge success. It's amazing how fast they were and I don't understand it, but they regularly beat people using calculators.

There's a good chance that they don't understand it, either. They just memorize the right moves to make for different operations.

A person can easily calculate a cube root in their head faster than a person can on an abacus - at least if it's the cube root of a lucky number like 1729.03.

Gokul originally linked to this story and it's always been a favorite of mine. In fact, my brother brought up the same story when my sister gave me my abacus. (Talk about a family of nerds. :smile: At our reunion last year, we sat around the campfire, drinking beer and playing 'sevens'.)
 
  • #29
Borek said:
It depends on sex. If you are woman you start to lie about your age much earlier.

Still, college sounds a lot too early.

I look like I'm in middle school, but I'm in college.

I just say that everyone when everyone is old and decrepit, I'll be the young one! Mwahahahahaha!

no one heard that...

Okay okay I'm actually [tex]2N_A[/tex] is my real age.
(since lisab told her real age, I guess I have to as well)
 
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  • #30
~christina~ said:
I look like I'm in middle school, but I'm in college.

I just say that everyone when everyone is old and decrepit, I'll be the young one! Mwahahahahaha!

no one heard that...

Okay okay I'm actually [tex]2N_A[/tex] is my real age.
(since lisab told her real age, I guess I have to as well)

Sorry doesn't work that way. I was getting carded for lottery tickets when I was 35. I'm now 39 and grey haired (silver) and can order off the senior menu at IHOP.
 

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