As a college freshman who is just about to end my first year, I am proud to say I survived.
Looking back at high school, I never quite understood my teachers when they’d tell us college wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
I used to see tons of tweets from my friends who had graduated about their all nighters the week before finals, but I thought that would be the only big adjustment from high school to college life.
Oh man, was I wrong.
Here are 5 things all high school students should know about college:
5.) No more cheat sheets.
In high school it was easy to get by with A’s and B’s without studying at all.
Sure, there was the occasional “big test” you made a few flash cards for, but even that was rare.
Senior year of high school, I graduated with all A’s after doing pretty much nothing.
There are a slew of people who got A’s in high school because of the cheat sheets made for every test. They would either prep their cheat sheets ahead of time, or just flat out google the answers when their teacher wasn’t looking.
In college, it’s a totally different story. And a very serious story, at that.
If you cheat, you can get expelled.
If you don’t study, you will fail.
If you fail, you won’t pass the class.
If you don’t pass the class, you just basically spent money on a waste of time you won’t be getting credits for.
The world of college education is exponentially different from high school.
4.) No one cares.
I don’t mean this literally.
People do care more in college, they just don’t care about you. It sounds mean, but it’s the way things are.
In high school, everyone is so concerned with what everyone else is doing. In college, no one cares how cool you were in high school, what sports you played or what your last name is.
They don’t care how you dress for class, what car you drive or what you do in your free time.
You can show up late to class, leave early, get up randomly to go the bathroom or not show up to class at all.
Nobody’s going to question you about it.
In high school, people get special advantages from some adults because their parents are a family friend. In a small town, those things actually matter. It’s all about who you know.
In college, nobody gives a sh*t who your mommy and daddy are. I particularly love this about college. It makes things feel more equal.
You can just do you, because no one gives a sh*t anyways.
3.) Organization is everything.
I have never been as organized in my life as I am right now.
That’s the only way you’re going to make it as a college student.
Buy yourself a planner and actually use it.
You may not need any of your fancy, expensive textbooks you buy for college classes (you’ll know what I’m talking about once you take your first pointless gen-ed), but you will need that planner.
It will make your life surprisingly easier when you have everything you need to do written down in one place. In high school, I used a planner and was fairly organized, but not nearly as much as I have to be now.
You have to be on top of every little assignment and exam so you can be completely prepared for whatever comes your way.
2.) You need to go to class.
Your world changes when your mom is no longer around to yell you out of bed every morning.
You have the freedom to skip class whenever you want — a luxury you didn’t have in high school. This luxury gets cancelled out, however, when you remember just how much you’re paying for this education.
Sometimes you just don’t have enough motivation to get out of bed in the morning, making the idea of skipping class very attractive.
My advice? Don’t skip.
It’s not like high school where missing a day or two isn’t a big deal.
Missing even one class can affect your overall grade in a college course. Professors don’t have the time or patience for a less-than-informative class, so the odds of you missing something important every time you skip are very high.
Attendance policies are taken very seriously in college.
Personally, I can miss 3 classes before my final grade starts to drop.
In my high school, I could miss 14 days.
It’s not even worth skipping in college.
You need to go to class.
1.) Nobody’s going to kiss your ass.
I’m constantly emailing professors and staying after class to ask questions or solve problems.
There’s nobody asking to speak to me after class about my grades, or offering to help me when he or she sees I didn’t do so well on a test.
Your professors may care about you, but not in the way your teachers in high school did.
If you have a problem or need help, you’re expected to take the initiative and figure it out yourself.
There’s no sweet guidance counselor calling you down to her cozy little office to talk about what classes you want to take, or what your next steps in your educational journey should be.
If you’re confused, you schedule a meeting with an advisor and figure it out on your own.
Nobody’s there to kiss your ass and hold your hand.
Independence isn’t an option — it’s expected.
You are in control of your future.
Although these seem to be overwhelmingly negative facts about college, let me reassure you there are many great things about college that completely blow high school out of the water.
The adults in your family who tell you “college is the best time of your life” aren’t lying.
You just have to take the good with the bad.
