Besides getting made fun on most occasions by the public school kids in the area, there are several things that change when you have to step out of your small little community and join the big kids at college.You may have hated it while you attended the school, but looking back, you realize that it wasn’t so bad and you wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Here are a few transitions you experience when leaving a private school and heading to college.
1. Picking out our own clothes: All you had to do was roll out of bed, throw on the uniform, and decide if you wanted to wear black tights or socks.Now, you have to pick out every outfit, every day AND actually make sure you look presentable.
2. Going to church: You now have to decide when/if you will make it to church because you know longer have a school requirement to attend mass on a somewhat regular basis.
3. You don’t know everyone: In high school you could name everyone in your grade because your class size was so small and could recognize the name of anyone in the building. At college, you won’t even cross paths with half the people that go there and in 10 years you’ll hear a name from someone who attended the same school and you won’t have a clue who they are.
4. Dress codes on out-of-uniform days: Every time there was a special event where you didn’t have to wear uniform, it was a constant battle between students and faculty on who was and wasn’t dress inappropriately.You no longer get sent home from class because you wore a tank top, leggings, or shorts you think are long enough, but apparently shows your butt off a little too well in the eyes of the teachers.
5. People all up in your business: If the slightest bit of interesting information got out, the entire school knew about it by the end of the class period-including the teachers.You therefore had to spend the rest of your day denying or confirming information to each person who approaches.In college, no one cares. Even if you scream your most personal secret, people might stare, but they will just keep on walking because they probably don’t even know your name.
6. Community: When something big happened, ranging from a state tournament for athletics to a tragedy, everyone is in it together.Everyone was in that crows cheering on their school, even if they didn’t like the sport or everyone came together to make something special happen for those in need. While you still get some of that in college, not everyone is going to attend the game or even hear about something someone may be going through. Your high school was so small and because you knew just about everyone, you had a tight community where practically everyone got involved and you could depend on them for everything.
7. Your friends all live within walking distance: Going to a private school, people came from all over.This meant that sometimes you had to drive anywhere from five minutes to an hour just to hang out with them outside of school.Before you could drive, plans had to be drawn out so you could ask your parents if they were willing to take time out of their day to make the drive.Now, besides in the summer, your friends are al within walking distance from you and you can call them up for last minute plans.You no longer have to add in the time to commute to their place because now when you say you’ll be there in five, you might actually be there in five minutes.
Whether you go to a community, private, or public college, the entire feel is still very different from your little high school.You’re forced into a mass of people and if you want to go into hiding, you could probably actually do it.When you look back on your high school experiences, you’ll think about the things you thought you hated, like uniforms, but you’ll also realize you didn’t have it so bad and maybe even wish you still had some of these things implemented in your life today.
