Three years ago, I was a typical high school senior who was pretty excited for my first college visit. Seeing plenty of college movies had helped me form my opinions about what college life was like, so I was excited to take a couple days off high school to find out just how crazy college actually was.

Sadly, I didn’t find the “movie” campus I had been hoping for. My dorm room wasn’t immediately packed with friends and I didn’t charm the pretty girl with the heart of gold within 30 minutes of getting into town. Instead, my experience turned out to be less like the movies and more like the rather mundane life I had been living for the previous 18 years.

Being young and impressionable, I quickly forgot about the Hollywood version of college and instead accepted the reality in which getting a free pop and a top-of-the-line ISU binder during my visit seemed like pretty special treatment. Up until recently, I thought that my college visit to Ames was representative of what all college students go through when they hit campus for the first time. However, in the wake of some new information, all of that has changed.

It turns out that some people actually do get to live the movie version of college, something that has been illustrated by the numerous stories published about the glamorous college visits made by the country’s most highly sought after football recruits. After reading about the exploits on these recruiting visits, I have decided that I was severely shortchanged during my first trip to Ames.

I guess the best place to start would be the car ride up to Iowa State. I had a nice time hopping in the family minivan with my mom and dad for the drive to Ames, all the while listening to a tired and tortuous soft-rock radio station. I wasn’t too unhappy with my transportation experience until I heard about the recruiting trips that Willie Williams of Miami’s Carol City High has been taking recently. Williams was taken on a private jet for his trip to Gainesville, Fla., and was chauffeured around town in Miami head coach Larry Coker’s Cadillac Escalade during a visit with the Hurricanes.

Before it starts to sound like I think I deserved a private jet, now might be a good time to point out a few key differences between Willie Williams and myself. He is a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacking terror who is ranked by most recruiting services as the most fearsome high school linebacker in the nation. I was a 5-11, 140-pound pre-business major who lacked any traits that could have been considered fearsome. Willie Williams runs a 4.5 40-yard dash and has a row of gold fronts. I had 5.5 speed and braces. So, while it seemed necessary to use aircraft and SUVs to make Williams feel important, I’d feel pretty special getting a ride to class in a university-owned Ford Taurus.

The next disparity between Willie’s and my college visits had to do with the cuisine. While I ate what I had considered to be a very nice lunch at the Maple-Willow-Larch dining hall, more news of Williams’ recruiting visit spoiled the meal I had eaten almost three years prior. Williams said he was served four or five lobster tails during his visit to Miami, and was offered Swedish meatballs and roasted gator during his trip to the University of Florida. Based on this information, I’ve decided that for me to feel all right about Williams’ lobster feast, the M-W-L dining hall could at least send me a fish sandwich, just to show they care.

The final aspect of my college visit that once seemed satisfactory but now appears to have fallen woefully short was the evening entertainment. I spent my night at the university-sponsored meet and greet, where I answered the obligatory “So what’s your major?” questions. I met, I greeted, and when all was said and done, I had a decent time. That was until I found out what Williams did for fun during his college visit. He discharged three fire extinguishers, punched a fellow nightclub patron, aggressively hugged a girl against her will, and found himself under arrest for violation of his probation. This laundry list of rowdiness made me reconsider the fun that I thought I had at the now mundane-seeming meet and greet. Although getting arrested and violating the rights of others aren’t what I’m interested in, I have always wanted to let one of those fire extinguishers go. I think I’ll have to add that to my list too.

But, all things said, I can’t be too disappointed with my college visit. I don’t feel the red carpet was rolled out for many incoming students who were much more qualified to attend college than Williams, but I realize that recruiting is a big business. Maybe more visits like Willie’s will cause recruiters to think twice about treating players as if they above the law. Time will tell whether that happens, but I’m hoping that the next Willie Williams will eat dining service lasagna, refrain from punching anyone, and get a dose of reality during his trip to a university campus. It will be good for him.