In this post, we take a closer look at the major differences between life in high school and your future life in college.
Here are the ten largest differences between the two that I’ve noticed:
1. The rules are typically more relaxed. If you’re living on campus, you don’t really have a curfew and can do just about whatever you want, provided you don’t break any school policies.
You don’t need your parents to sign forms, you can do it yourself. You can live as you want — if you want to put up a Pokemon poster in your room, then you can. If you want to stay up until 3 am, you can.
2. However, YOU are responsible in college. If you do break a rule, it’s mostly up to you to handle the consequences — your parents won’t be as useful in getting you out of trouble.
First, you’ll have to understand the specific culture at your new school. The language is different, and you’ll need to become culturally literate about all things related to your new environment. See also this page with more tips.
3. College classes move much faster, especially if you’re on the quarter system. If you have a 15-week semester and meet for class three times a week, you meet 45 times and that’s it. Compare that to high school, where you might have class 180 times in one year. There’s a big difference.
4. Way more work is done outside of class. Not only do the classes move faster, but you’re typically expected to be studying the material outside of class. In fact, if you don’t, and many students have procrastination issues, you will have a much harder time grasping it.
5. Attendance isn’t really mandatory. If you don’t feel like going to class, you can usually miss it and not get in “trouble”, though you will miss out on that day’s material and you risk falling behind.
6. Your parents aren’t there to hold your hand. If you only passed in high school because your parents were there to push you, you’re going to need to take charge in college if you want to avoid failing out.
7. Professors aren’t necessarily the best teachers. Professors have a lot on their plate at once, and only one of those things is teaching. Research is a big part of a professor’s life, and many professors just aren’t meant to teach.
8. There are a lot of different types of people. If your hometown is pretty dull and everybody is the same, you’ll be surprised at the huge variety of people in college. For many, you can more easily find cliques that match you but don’t forget to do things you need to do before moving out of town.
You’ll also see that there are several types of college classes and in different classes, the role of the professor is also different. You’ll need to be ready to compensate.
9. People are less judgmental. Although there is still a surprising amount of drama in college, most students are more mature than their high school counterparts. So if you approach a random person to start a conversation, they’re much more likely to be open to it and to talk to you.
10. Everyone has worked to go here. Although there are the students who just come to college to party, every student had to put in at least some effort in order to be accepted into the school. Learn how to take notes in lectures effectively! If you don’t you’ll run into trouble before you know.
Every student varies on how serious they are about their studies, yet you know that all of them are at least somewhat. In high school, there were many students who didn’t seem to care at all. Learn also to overcome procrastination issues, a major hurdle for academic success!
I remember that when my freshman year began, I was taken aback at how different college life was from high school life. Although I definitely expected a drastic change, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as it is.
How to find solitude in college
So now you’re a high school graduate and your TSI scores granted you exempt status for taking the Texas Success Initiative Assessment. Congrats!! But mind you, not everything always goes smooth. The following tips will help you when you need to find solitude in college.
Now if you’re a shy person who needs your own space and time to wind down, dorm life will definitely take its toll on you. With all of the people coming and going, anyone who’s introverted will inevitably feel the need for some alone time to relax and wind down.
Depending on how many roommates you have and how they act, this can be easy or it can be tough. Some roommates can live together, each doing their own thing, and be perfectly happy. Some students also put on a lot of weight in their freshman year and make sure you don’t fall into that trap!
Others feel a constant need to interact with each other or with other people, keeping you from the downtime that you need. The best place, to go when you really need that, is the library.
Even though the library will still have plenty of people in it, everyone there is doing their own thing. You can easily curl up in a corner with a nice book or your laptop and just relax.
You don’t need to tell anyone you’re going to be there — just go there after class or after dinner or something and relax as long as you need to. Bear in mind that you’ve got to get used to being independent and become culturally literate in your new situation.
Alternatively, you can also go for a walk, go into town, and so forth. You don’t always have to have somebody with you. When your roommate is in class, that’s also a great time to have the room to yourself.
A little bit of solitude here and there is nice and all, but be careful about how much you isolate yourself — even if you’re introverted, a little bit of socializing never hurts and will actually help you feel better about yourself in general.