Dorothy, I don't think we're in high school anymore. The transition from high school to college is huge, it's life changing. We're growing up, maturing, and moving on to bigger and better things. We're in college now. We're starting the best years of our lives. This are a couple things about the change from high school to college written by a current college freshman.
Your parents aren't right in the other room anymore when you need help. If you're anything like me, they're four to four and a half hours away. They aren't there to hold your hand and tell you what's right or wrong. You have to be independent and know what you need to do. You're growing up, spreading your wings and leaving the nest. Yes your parents will still be there, but it's not going to be easy emotionally. Your parents aren't going to be there to cook or clean for you anymore, you have to learn how to do that. It's really sad because, during the first week here, I had eleven (yes, I counted) people ask me how to do laundry. They're not going to be there to spoil you anymore, an occasional care package if you're lucky.
Schedules aren't Monday through Friday 7:20 to 1:50 anymore. It's a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday and Thursday rotation. If you're extra "lucky" you'll even have a class that is one day a week that's about three hours long. Luckily for me, I don't have any of those. The classes are harder, there's a bigger workload, and you have to be very self-motivated. Attendance isn't required anymore, so nobody's going to force you to go to class. My roommate says "It's hard." That's no understatement, college is the real deal. Remember, you're paying all this money to a university to expand your knowledge and earn a degree. Don't mess that up. Also your classes in high school will have maybe thirty kids max. In college your classes have way more, depending on the class of course. My smallest class is my freshman seminar-similar class with twenty four, while my largest class is sociology with about eighty-ninety kids enrolled.
Professors are there to help you. Join study groups of stay after class for tutoring sessions. Also, your professors won't remind you when your assignments are due usually. They post almost everything online and expect you to be checking the site daily for updates. It's not their fault if you miss an assignment or forget to turn one it. You knew everything for the class is posted on Desire2learn and it's your responsibility to pay attention to the details. They're also very strict about deadlines. In high school, if you don't turn an assignment, you get a five day late policy where you lose a couple of points each day. That's not the case in college. When a professor says an assignment is due at 5:00pm, if you don't have it in at exactly that time, you get a zero. Not even 5:01pm is acceptable, they close the assignment and you will no longer have access for submissions after the due date.
Oh, did I mention you also have to buy your own textbooks in college? Yes, you read that right. They're not provided for you for free anymore like they were in high school. As we all know, textbooks aren't cheap. It feels like you have to take out a loan just to pay for your books, they're pretty expensive. You'll also have that one class where they say the textbook is required, so you'll buy it, and never even touch the book all semester, or if you do, it's only once of twice.
In college, the library will become your best friend. You think it's easy to study in your dorm, that's what everybody thinks. Your walls are paper thin and you can hear everything. The smallest noise can sound like an explosion in here. In high school, you always studied int he comfort in your own house in quiet, alone. Must be nice because that's not the case here. The library is great for studying, doing research, reading, or even just having a quiet place to sit and relax. Let's not forget that the library is open until midnight, and even longer during finals week, so for the all-nighters you will be spending doing school work, it's the perfect place to go and focus.
My mom always used to say that college is the reward for surviving high school. Yes they're both very hard, but with the right amount of determination, you can do it. You can do anything you put your heart and soul into.
