[media-credit name=’Taylor Hughes’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Though most parents send their kids to college to prepare for the real world, for many students, the University of Wisconsin represents the chance to take a long vacation before entering reality.

Putting play before work is often the four-year plan students choose in order to make the most of their college experience.

“College is the only time you can go crazy and have fun,” UW sophomore James Coates said. “Friends and going out seems more important right away than the actual information in classes.”

Student life at UW, consistently ranked at the top of every collegiate party list, can center more on boozing, partying and just plain enjoying those last few years before beginning full-fledged adulthood than on devoting time to academic pursuits.

Many students recognize their time at the university as a much more worry-free lifestyle compared to the 9-to-5 grind they will endure after graduation. Capitalizing on that freedom from responsibility frequently takes top priority for students.

“[It’s] not the real world, so you should try to have a lot of fun…I think you should live it up more than usual,” UW junior Andy Kott said, adding he plans to prolong his college life by going to medical school once he graduates.

Kott concedes, however, he will eventually have to buckle down and devote more time to his studies once undergraduate school comes to an end. But for now, he plans on continuing to put an emphasis on those things making the biggest impact on his life in college: the people, not the class work.

“[I’ll remember] the good times with friends. Stuff I’m learning in class — I don’t think I’ll ever use it,” Kott said.

Indeed, among a large fraction of the UW student body, college is first and foremost about having the time of your life before the reality of the real world settles in.

“[A] lot of people think of college as the last detour before getting on the highway,” said Aaron Brower, a UW professor of social work and interdisciplinary instruction.

Unlike generations past when only a small minority of young people could go on to higher education, college is now often considered an expected rite of passage before entering adulthood. Nearly 70 percent of high school graduates go on to some form of higher education, Brower said.

Some employers nowadays contend a university degree has become the career threshold high school once represented, making attending college a foregone conclusion for a large portion of young people –a conclusion many times taken for granted.

Brower said instead of viewing their time at the UW as an open door to their future, too many college students float through their four years here without understanding the responsibility that comes with a college education.

“There is a lot of sense of entitlement,” Brower said. “[Students] have never had to think about their next step. They just put their foot in front of them.”

Brower added irresponsible behavior spurred by binge drinking, such as bar fights and sexual assaults, results in part from a college culture that breeds students’ sense of living free from consequences. He said the partying lifestyle can often keep young people from finding the “Holy Grail” of the college experience: discovering an interest they love that will turn into a career.

But some students who put their career track above having a good time during college say they feel shortchanged.

Fifth-year UW senior Robert Steffes said after enduring the rigorous coursework of a double major in both electrical engineering and computer science, he looks back on college and regrets not enjoying his time more.

Now in his final semester, he is taking it easy, filling his sparse schedule with physical education courses and a ‘clap for credit’ class. His easy course load is now making him rethink whether choosing the more stressful path throughout the majority of college was the right choice.

“Just this semester I feel like I’m having the real college experience…This semester where I’m laid back about school makes me wish I had done it differently,” Steffes said.

Nevertheless, with a job opportunity already in the bag, Steffes said taking the harder route in college will probably still prove wiser in the end — even if his memories of the UW are not as fond as those of some students.

“I think you should be focused on what is going to constitute the majority of your life,” he said.