As a first year college student, I am still in the midst of my transition from high school to college, and although it is early, I can already see how college is much better than high school. Someone once told me that my four years of high school would be the best years of my life, but now that I am here I know they were completely wrong. I have only been at college for a short time and my experiences here have already topped most of the experiences from high school.
At most high schools there is a social pyramid ranking from the least popular to the coolest, most popular kids, and people were only accepted in a friend group of their equal standing. What determined a person's ranking was usually their extracurricular activities, how many friends they had and their personality. If someone was an introverted band kid, there was a very slim chance they would be in the same clique as a cheerleader or football player. Because of these cliques, it was most often hard to make friends and figure out where you fit in in high school. At college everyone talks to everyone, no matter what you do or who you are and cliques are virtually nonexistent. I have made more friends in my one month at college than I was ever able to in high school. People are so much kinder and less worried about social standings in college, so it is possible for band kids to be friends with cheerleaders, football players to be friends with basketball players and sorority girls to befriend Quidditch Club members.
Many high school kids can be extremely hateful and mean. Rumors are a constant occurrence and bullying happens on the daily. Although these things are not nonexistent at college, they are much less frequent. There is so much drama in high school that leads kids to say nasty things about each other or to lash out in some way, causing so many kids to feel hurt and alone. At college, most of the time people simply mind their own business and don't cause drama for anyone because they are more focused on the task of getting that degree. Some high school students don't even want to be at school so they are much less focused on their academics than a college student is, making it easier for said high school students to have time for all the drama and nonsense. There is some drama in college, but it's usually easily solved by simply speaking to the person it concerns and not involving anyone else.
In high school, students have a set schedule of courses to take. Usually a math, history, English, science and two elective courses. Although elective courses may be fun, most of the time the courses required are not courses that anyone really wants to take.In college students get to take courses that interest them and are something they want to spend their time learning, and that also contribute to their degree. Being able to choose their course of study makes going to class and doing homework much more appealing because students are genuinely interested in what is being covered in class. Also, in high school, a student is stuck in a building for six to seven hours five days a week. In college, a student can set up their schedule however they like, without having to be in classes constantly each day. Having longer breaks between classes has made me a much happier student, and I love it so much more than I did high school.
For me, all of these things makes college exponentially better than high school, and I can't wait to see what the next four years hold. Getting through high school is hard, but the payoff is definitely worth it once you make it to college.
