College Corner

College versus high school

Freshmen heading off to college in the next few weeks are more likely to enjoy a successful first year if they understand some of the differences between high school and college.

The biggest shift is in personal responsibility. In high school, teachers and parents monitor your progress. High school teachers will remind you when homework or papers are due and tell you what material to read each week. In college, it's all on the syllabus, and it's up to you to keep track of the required work.

You possess much more freedom of choice in college. Even at small colleges there are hundreds of courses to choose from, and while most schools have general education requirements there are many ways to fulfill them- as opposed to high school, where the choices are extremely limited.

The freedom that comes with the looser structure of college life can be great, if you know what to do with it. Your classes will only meet two or three times a week, and some seminar classes meet for three hours once a week.

Instead of going to school from 8:00 to 2:30 every day, you can create a schedule that works for you. If you're not a morning person, you can choose afternoon classes, though as a freshman you may not get the most desirable sections of a class.

If you like accomplishing your work early in the day, you can sign up for early classes. By personal preference I chose classes based on the professor because a great teacher makes any class interesting and worthwhile.

In high school, if you miss a class, you need a note to excuse your absence. In large college classes, the professor won't know if you're there, and you need to obtain the notes that you missed in class.

In small seminar classes, where participation is part of the grade, you do need to show up.

When you're absent in high school, the teacher will usually let you take a test the next day, but in college, it's not always possible to schedule a makeup exam.

There are a lot more tests in high school. In college classes, you may have only a midterm and final exam. Without the feedback of frequent tests and quizzes, you need to make sure you're keeping up and understanding the material.

In college, one exam could be worth 50 percent of your grade. If you cheat on an exam in high school you may get detention; in college you can be expelled.

Most high school students don't have much choice about which school they attend. But you've chosen this college, as did your classmates. So even if it's a small college, there should be people who share some of your interests, and there may be a bigger pool of potential friends.

Friends are even more important in college because you don't have your family around. In high school, you go home to your parents and siblings at the end of the day. In college, you live with your fellow students. As a freshman you share a bedroom, perhaps for the first time. You don't have home cooking, though most dining halls offer lots of choices.

You have many possibilities in college; all of those choices bring responsibility.

It takes some getting used to, but the payoff, becoming a more independent, confident person, is well worth it.