We hear a lot about college: It’s the best four years of your life, no one shows up to class, frat parties are wild, high school prepares you, high school doesn’t prepare you at all, 8 AM classes are the worst, and much more. So what is the truth about college? MDO interviewed four college freshman – AJ Ding (Yale University), Kate Ryan (Providence), Dylan Anderson (William and Mary), and Chloe Schorr (University of South Carolina) – to hear what they had to say about some rumors that circulate about college.

How legitimate is the broke college kid eating ramen noodles stereotype?

KR: Unfortunately very accurate. I cry a little bit every time I have to use my debit card.

AD: I eat a lot of ramen. But everyone usually is on a meal plan so they should have enough food. I’m just too lazy to get up sometimes.

DA: At least in my circumstance, the broke college kid eating ramen noodles stereotype is so accurate that I can’t even afford the ramen noodles. Buying a pack of gum now suddenly turns into a fifteen minute internal debate.

Do you have a crazy roommate?

CS: My roommate is extremely crazy. She’s selectively super religious but then other times goes wild. She’s also a crier. She wakes me up all the time to tell me the dumbest stories (today I went to the dining hall and they ran out of chicken fingers. End of story). She said the most important thing to her about college is updating her Snapchat story to make sure people think she’s cool. Needless to say I don’t spend much time in my room.

KR: I’m in a triple so I had two roommates, one which I love and one who could definitely be classified as crazy, but its ok because she’s moving out next semester.

DA: It’s quite the opposite actually. Having a diet coke as he does his computer science homework is about as wild as it gets for him.

AD:I don’t have a crazy roommate, but I have 3. And they’re so loud.

Is the freshman 15 real?

CS: I actually lost 15 pounds. God knows how because all I eat is Chick-fil-a and drink high calorie drinks (soda of course) and I never work out. But for a lot of people I know it’s incredibly real.

DA: From what I’ve seen the freshman fifteen could go either way. I’ve seen a lot of people put on weight, but I’ve also seen some people shed a ton as well.

KR: Yeah it’s definitely real if for some people. You just have to try to go the gym every day and not order 2 am pizza three nights a week.

AD: Freshman 15 is real for like 25 percent I’d say. Most people do gain weight though.

You just took your first finals. Did you die?

DA: Both my body and my mind are still fully functional, but I think I left a part of my soul in finals week.

CS: Finals are cruel and unusual punishment. My friend spent 19 hours straight in the library last week. My classes weren’t impossible but I still pulled 2 all nighters and cried when I was done. It’s pretty much a whole semester of college level information packed into a week and it’s literal hell. Especially if you have bad professors.

KR: I’ll get back to you on Thursday, after I finish them. I don’t know what I did to deserve my bio and chem final on the same day two hours apart, so we’ll see how that goes.

AD: Finals is quite stressful. But not too much worse than big tests in high school.

What surprised you most about college?

CS: I think the thing that surprised me most was the fact that a lot of people hate it. I’ve had the best few months of my life at the University of South Carolina but a lot of my friends from home and at school literally count down the days until they can go home. A lot has to do with long distance relationships and not making enough of an effort to put yourself out there and meet new people but I took the route where I focused on meeting new people and joining organizations. That way I don’t really have time to be unhappy or lonely at such a big school. I’ve also become a lot more interested in my major and I’m incredibly excited to start taking more major-based classes so I can intern as soon as possible.

AD: How lazy I could get.

DA: I’ve somehow managed to keep my room livably clean

KR: I was surprised at how much I like it, because I came in with a bad attitude. I didn’t get into some of the schools I really wanted to go to last year, so I was in the mindset that I wanted to transfer as soon as I could. I found out that you can be happy anywhere as long as make friends and are challenged. I am much happier than I ever thought I would be