As my first semester of my freshman year in college comes to an end, I am blown away by how much more I enjoy college than high school.

High school was full of pressures to do perfectly in school, and going to class for eight hours a day was exhausting. I was always stressed and overtired, and the weeks seemed to drag.

Now, I get at least nine hours of sleep a night, have plenty of free time to watch Netflix or take naps, and I actually love and look forward to going to class because the learning atmosphere is so much better.

Not to mention the fact that in college you’re actually treated like an adult which is awesome (until you have to pay tuition and then it’s not so awesome, but I like to ignore that fact).

1. Slut-shaming happens significantly less often

Since becoming a student at OSU, I have noticed this underlying support and “you go girl” vibe toward the college students that choose to wear a short skirt or low-cut bodysuit.

Female college students seem to be much more confident and secure with themselves than high school girls, so there isn’t a need to tear other girls down out of jealousy.

We all kind of have a mutual understanding that being a woman is tough, and slut-shaming promotes a judgmental and sex-negative culture that we want no part of.

2. There’s way more independence

In high school, feeling independent was being able to go to the bathroom without having to ask your teacher for a hall pass. In college, not only are you allowed to go to the bathroom without asking, but no one is going to hold your hand and force you to go to class or do your assignments or call your parents if you get a bad grade on a test.

Your parents aren’t around to make your meals for you, do your laundry or buy your groceries. It’s really nice to feel responsible and mature enough to take care of yourself.

3. There’s so many opportunities

At Ohio State, there are always famous and successful speakers and celebrities coming to campus to talk or perform. This semester alone, I saw Zedd perform and heard Rupi Kaur (the poet) and Alexis Ohanian (the co-founder of Reddit) speak.

There are also tons of clubs for every passion you could possibly have, as well as thousands of different classes to choose from.

4. The professors are incredibly knowledgeable about their field

One of the most exciting changes for me in coming to college was getting to receive instruction from professors who are passionate about their subject area and know a lot about it.

Many professors have performed extensive research in their field and have doctorate degrees. They are just really excited to teach the class because they truly love and thoroughly understand what they’re teaching.

My nutrition professor this semester is coming out with his own line of multi-vitamin supplements and has conducted countless studies, and my Intro to Shakespeare instructor was a graduate student who lived in London for a while studying Shakespeare in his birthplace.

5. There’s way less competition between students over grades

In high school, it seemed like we were always competing against our classmates to get the better grades because we were competing to get into similar colleges and our school ranked the students in our class by GPA.

In college, there’s a lot less pressure to have perfect grades. Unless you’re going to graduate school, your GPA isn't as important as it was in high school. You need a 2.0 or higher to stay at OSU, but no one is constantly asking each other, “what’s your GPA??” or trying to get ahead of other students.

OSU wants students to enjoy learning and not have to focus on getting straight A's, which is incredibly refreshing.

6. You can get so much more sleep

At least at OSU, the earliest class you can have is at 8 a.m., which is a bummer but also usually pretty easy to avoid. This semester I had a few classes at 8 a.m. I learned my lesson, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays next semester my first class is at 11:30 a.m. instead.

Also, you’re really only in class for a max of 5 hours a day (the average is really 3 hours a day), so you have plenty of time to take naps or go to bed super early. Sometimes my roommate and I go to bed at 8:30 p.m. and it’s honestly amazing. I highly recommend it.