2008 Beloit Mindset

Each fall for the past eleven years, Beloit College (Beloit, Wis) has posted a "mindset" list -- a profile of sorts -- for incoming freshman. Among the 60 items on this year's list:

Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.

They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.

Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.

Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts. (Gallons would be better!)

The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.

Students have always been "Rocking the Vote."

Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

We have always known that "All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." (Read an excerpt here)

IBM has never made typewriters.

Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again. (For which we are most thankful!)

The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno.

Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.

Macaulay Culkin has always been "Home Alone." (Yes, the movie came out in 1990...feel old yet?)

Caller ID has always been available on phones.

The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.

They never heard an attendant ask "Want me to check under the hood?"

The Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

Moscow residents have always been able to buy Big Macs.

The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.

The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.

There have always been charter schools.

Students always had Goosebumps.

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To read the complete list, click here.