High School Versus College

At this point you’re probably wondering how High School and College are going to be different. You don’t know what you’re walking into with moving into your dorm or going into your first class. It’s an exciting time, so enjoy it all! I’m going to warn you though – it’s also a little stressful. It’s the stress of being put in a new situation on your own and learning to navigate through it. You will do just fine, you’re not the only one in this same situation.

You already know college is different because you’re living in the dorm rooms, so this is going to focus more on your classes because it can be quite a shock. Your college classes are going to be completely different from your high school ones, and it helps to be prepared.

Your first day of class, your college professors will hand you a syllabus which they didn’t do in high school and if they did it was 1 or 2 pages. The college syllabus is a terrifying document of 15-20 pages but after your initial fright of getting this document in your hand, it won’t be so bad. In fact, you won’t be able to thrive without it. The syllabus is going to lay out course expectations, attendance policies, and what you’re studying every single class as well as what homework will be assigned. If you’re handed a syllabus for your favorite subject, you may even get excited to see what you’re going to be studying! In other words, don’t be terrified by this monster document! It’s going to be your best friend in your classes.

Your high school teachers may have given you guided notes. They would hand you a packet and show a Power Point presentation and you would just have to fill in words here or there. You won’t be getting those in college. At all. Your professors are going to lecture, you’ll have a discussion, or you’ll get a presentation about what you’re learning. You’re going to be taking notes. Furiously. Invest in plenty of pens, highlighters, and paper now. Or remember to take your laptop or tablet to class. Be prepared to have as many as 15 pages of notes per class period.

Your high school teachers may have hunted you down up to a month after a paper was due if you didn’t turn it in or give you multiple chances to re-do an assignment. Your college professors will not do that at all. They may give reminders here and there to the whole class that there’s an essay or exam that is due, but they won’t hunt you down for an assignment. When it’s due, it’s due and that’s it. They may have a late policy, but unless there is an emergency of some sort, get your assignments in on time! Remember – you’re paying for college. In most circumstances, you didn’t pay for high school. If you do badly in a class because you didn’t do the work or didn’t come to class, you’re going to be stuck in that class with that same professor again because you need a certain grade in order for the credit to count for your degree. If you have to retake a class, you’re going to be spending more money, especially if you took out loans.

This was probably on your mind at some point but you felt embarrassed to ask so you were just going to go with the flow. You won’t have gym classes, study halls, or lunch periods built into your schedule like in high school. If you want to exercise, you have to go to the college gyms on your own free time. Studying is going to be worked into any free time you have so you have to learn time management. And you’ll have to build lunches into your schedule yourself and grab a bite to eat in between classes.

You won’t have a locker. And if you’re dorming, you won’t have time to go back to your dorm room in between classes. That means you’re going to be carrying every notebook and textbook you need for the day with you all day. Everything you need has to be with you when you walk out of your dorm, apartment, or house in the morning. Invest in a sturdy backpack with plenty of space in it to carry everything, and don’t take more than you need to class.

The good news is you won’t be taking standardized testing with everyone else taking the class. You will have exams but they will be with the rest of the college students in your class period. These exams aren’t the type of high stakes testing that you experience in high school. That doesn’t mean they’re any less intense. You’ll end up writing very long essays in college and taking intense exams that last one or more class periods. Study for them. You need to study for them. Seriously. You can’t just take the exam without studying like you may have done in high school. The questions are going to be more intensive and need more than just one word or one sentence answers. Make sure you know your stuff.