10 Terrifying Facts About This Year’s College Freshmen

It’s the end of August, which means it’s just about time to terrify all Americans over 25 with “The Mindset List,” Beloit College’s annual roundup of 75 facts about this year’s incoming freshmen. There’s some good news: Kids — sorry guys, adults – born in 1994 have grown up in a world that’s made significant strides in gender equity and LGBT rights. But then there’s the stuff that will totally shock you (or at the very least make you feel ancient), like the revelation that people for whom Kurt Cobain has always been dead and The Real World has always been on the air can now buy cigarettes. Click through to learn where the heads of our nation’s youth are at — if you dare — and visit “The Mindset List” for the complete rundown.

1. For this generation of entering college students, born in 1994, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy have always been dead.

2. Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.”

3. Robert De Niro is thought of as Greg Focker’s long-suffering father-in-law, not as Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway.

4. They have never seen an airplane “ticket.”

5. Benjamin Braddock, having given up both a career in plastics and a relationship with Mrs. Robinson, could be their grandfather.

6. The Real World has always stopped being polite and started getting real on MTV.

7. Bill Clinton is a senior statesman of whose presidency they have little knowledge.

8. Pulp Fiction’s meal of a “Royale with Cheese” and an “Amos and Andy milkshake” has little or no resonance with them.

9. Despite being preferred urban gathering places, two-thirds of the independent bookstores in the United States have closed for good during their lifetimes.

10. They grew up, somehow, without the benefits of Romper Room.

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CAM94 5 pts

I'm sorry, but I am one of those kids. I was born in 1994 and I am a Freshman in college. This list is completely stereotyped and upsetting. It makes my generation look like we're lowlife people who worship TV and pop stars. And associating loss of bookstores with my generation infuriates me! It makes us look like we're not intellectuals and are too dumb to read books.

Sorry to hate over the internet, as it's been the point of the internet for so many awful people - but....this list is ridiculous. The Jackson family is royalty in the minds of 18 year olds? Never seen The Godfather or Pulp Fiction? I'm nearly 30 and have plenty of reasons to be distraught at the youth of college freshmen but I would never accuse them of being culturally ignorant. Following the logic of this list, the author is unaware of Citizen Kane and has heard of the Civil War only in passing.

The Pulp Fiction one seems particularly stupid. Pretty much everyone I know has seen Pulp Fiction at least once, and I'm only two years older than these kids. There are a few more like that on the whole list as well.

@Brian: Technically youre right, I was born in 93 and Im a sophomore in college, so Cobain has been dead pretty much my whole life. Im kind of a pop culture nerd though

Wow, I didn't realize so many college freshmen are so culturally unaware and oblivious to anything that happened before they were born.

@Mike: You were obviously born before 1994. Yes they may know of Nirvana, but Kurt has always been dead to them. Most kids have not seen Pulp Fiction twice. They may know of it, but may not have seen it.

i was in an elevator with a family recently and the teenaged kids had not seen nor were remotely familiar with the original "willy wonka" w/ gene wilder. the mom had to clarify "no, not the one with johnny depp, the original," and got blank stares. that made me sad.

Yes, people have no knowledge of the world before they existed. Right on.

"He is going to Stanford, he and his friends have more important things on their minds." Well, whoop-de-fucking-do.

this post can be summed up as: "Gosh darnnit... these young people!" wasteful

Also, for the record, "theyre to young to know X" is just wrong, most people know of Nirvana, Robert de Ninero's classic movies (especially his with Scorsese, an Godfather is just one of those things everyone knows), have seen Pulp Fiction at least twice. Theyre just too great not to know, at least not for another decade or two. And while we may not have bookstores we do have ebooks and other types of things like that which are less intimate, but more convenient to most people and use less resources over time.

You know, Im kind of ok with John Wayne Gacy being dead for my whole life

You're talking about my son! Born in 1994, entering college. Well, I do not think not knowing popular culture claptrap is a bad thing. He is going to Stanford, he and his friends have more important things on their minds. So amusing, and yes he did see "The Graduate" and liked it.

So many of these are not true. The ones who don't know most of these are idiots. Anyone my age with a medicore sense of culture would not most of these.

Yeah, #9 gets to me the most.

Numbers 3 and 9 are the saddest of them all (for me at least).