Beloit College Mindset List: Incoming Freshman Have Never Seen A Set Of Encyclopedias, A Real Airline Ticket, Or Kurt Cobain Alive

Ever wonder what it’s like inside the mind of an incoming college freshman. It’s a scary place. The Beloit College Mindset List took a look at the class of 2016 this year and found that most incoming freshman have never seen a set of encyclopedias, have never seen a real airline ticket, and have no use for television or the radio.

Most incoming freshman for the class of 2016 were born in 1994, which means that they’ve never seen a living and breathing Kurt Kobain, they’ve never seen a football team play in Los Angeles, and they’ve always had blue M&Ms (but not tan ones).

Beloit College has been creating its Mindset List since 1998. The list takes a look at how culture has changed for young people as they enter college. This year’s generation has always lived in “cyberspace” and have never had the need for snail mail or home phones.

Here are some of the best observations from the Beloit College Mindset List for the class of 2016.

1. Kurt Cobain, Richard Nixon, and John Wayne Gacy have always been dead.
2. The class of 2016 has always lived in cyberspace and are addicted to “electronic narcotics.”
3. Michael Jackson’s family has replaced the Kennedys.
4. Robert De Niro is known as Greg Focker’s father-in-law, not Vito Corleone.
5. Carrying luggage, instead of rolling it, makes no sense to them.
6. Women have always been able to pilot space shuttles and war planes.
7. Instant stardom seems like a legitimate career choice.
8. They aren’t sure why a floppy disc, a telephone, and a snail mail envelope represent “save,” “phone” and “email” on their tablets.
9. Have never used cassette or VHS tapes.
10. A “tribal generation” that always needs to be in-touch with people their age.
11. Their older siblings watched Lost. The class of 2016 watches Breaking Bad.
12. Mr. Burns replaced J.R. Ewing as the most shot-at-man on television.
13. Arianna Huffington has always been a liberal.
14. They still watch TV, just not on TV.
15. Pulp Fiction‘s meal of a “Royale with Cheese” has no meaning to them.
16. Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last millennium.
17. Two-thirds of the independent bookstores in the United States have closed for good during their lifetimes.

What do you think of the Beloit College Mindset List? You can see all 75 items here.