Differences Between High School and College

You wake up, brush your teeth, maybe grab breakfast, run to catch the train, ride the bus, or walk/bike to school at 7 AM.

You show up for a few classes, ask for permission to drink water mid-class, then wait for your school day to end no later than 3:30.

Your friends are your classmates since you are forced to spend the majority of the day with them; your significant other is the one that you can have the most fun with (usually) no plans for tomorrow; your hangouts are based in the area that you live in or the area that your school presides in.

That is High School: the epitome of pre-created structure, law, and order.

To put it in the simplest terms, College is the anti-high school.

Going from high school to College is a very steep learning curve, as there are minimal resemblances between high school and College.

Schedule and Self-Awareness:

Your schedule in College is not created FOR you, it’s created BY you.

You are the only person responsible for choosing your professors and the appropriate timeslots, so if you have work from 9AM-3PM, don’t take History 110 with Dr. Bouvier from 8 AM to 10:30 AM who is known to be overly energetic in her class (which you can find out by googling your professors).

Freedom and Responsibility:

Odds are that you are now at least 18, and there is a good chance that you are dorming or living away from home, which means there is no one to cook, clean, or remind you to do your homework (if that was present at your house during HS).

You are responsible for remembering that your midterm is at 5:25 PM on Friday the 13th and that you have an English paper due at 3:25 PM on that same day. After your midterm, you have to go home and cook (or order) food for yourself and then clean up your room (because who likes to live in a pigsty).

You can also choose not to attend your classes or leave halfway through the midterm to go to that party, and your Professor won’t email you or call home; you will simply suffer the consequences of your own actions.

Social Life and Maturity:

The comfort and friends that were easily formed from overlapping classes and similar schedules rarely exist outside the public education system.

Now that everyone creates a schedule around their differing priorities, the odds of you and that guy you liked or the girl you clicked with are minimal.

If you want friends in College, you need to go out of your way and incorporate social activities with people you’re interested in maintaining friendships.

You also need to ensure that these friendships do not hinder your personal goals but enable you to strive further in life. Your significant other will most likely not be the one that is only the most fun to hang out with, but also the one that can emotionally and professionally develop with.

In short, College gives you access to freedom, but you need to handle it with maturity and responsibility while maintaining self-awareness. Best of luck in this upcoming chapter of your life; have a lot of fun, and stay safe.