In my academic experience, I have found that attending college and what my expectations of college were have more differences than it similarities. I have to say that so far attendance in college has exceeded my expectations and honestly, I am quite glad that it has. To start off with the differences I have come across, my first expectation of college was that I had thought my classes would be more difficult than anything I had ever learned in High School. The reality was, in my experience, that it was the exact opposite. For example, in my math class this semester, my professor’s teaching methods are much easier to comprehend and I’m not struggling to understand the concepts I used to in High School any longer. In the previous years to attending college, I was always told that the courses I would take in College would be more challenging and so I always held that expectation. Another difference of my expectations and experience was just how independent college life is. Everything is entirely dependent on the students and while there is plenty of assistance for them, it is up to them...
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
I analyzed the identity of a "college student". In this article, the authors explain the perceptions of college academics and academic rigor among first-year students. The result obtained by the author is that students success in college depends on the mindset they had before starting their first semester, the authors take an in-depth look at students who believed college was as difficult, if not more than, their initial perceptions; students who believed college was less difficult than their perceptions; and students who expressed a neutral perception of college as "different than" prior perceptions. First-year students reported that their perceptions of the rigor of college academics and their actual experiences in college
All of the experiences that college brings are designed to shape students as people to make them more proactive members of the modern society. In other words, college is where kids are made into men and women. In many ways it's also a trial by fire to see who has the right focus to make it through. These trials, scary as they may seem, all shape the graduates of today. Well the graduates anyways. “It forces you to grow up. It's just all about learning how to live on your own. I matured a ton and I still mature every day” (Paoli). College gives students the resources they need to survive in the modern world and so much
“More than a wish or a hope, an expectation is something a student believes will happen, anticipates doing or experiencing. Expectations are grounded in a student's self-understanding and in knowledge about the college or university at which he or she plans to spend the next four years or more.” This superior justification of what a college student foresees by Robert Gonyea, really depicts what a scholar looks forward to in his or her college years. When expectations are applied to the student it is treated as a plan or a goal. However, when intended for the institution, it is looked upon as an obligation. There are so many ideas one thinks of when starting a new chapter in life. Some occasional deliberations include parties, freedom, higher workload, dating, and leaving the comfort zone of high school. In reality, many of these things don’t change, while others alter significantly.
When any adolescent enters High School they are still young and on the search to find themselves. High Schooler’s often make bad decisions, but quickly see that these mistakes there to be learning experiences rather than to dwell on them. Often, for many students, High School does not present an extreme amount of stress, rather it is a a place to learn more about yourself. Once college hits, stress is the only thing on the mind. College students are always worrying about if they did their homework, if they have a big test coming up, if they studied enough, and if they even have enough money to pay their bills. So the key to college is to know that the fundamentals of college are different than high school, be responsible and reliable to yourself, do all your homework, and most importantly be respectful to your peers and teachers
In college, “students are expected to be young adults not large children.” After abiding by the same rules for 13 years, they tend to change. Once in college, there is a chance you will not know your professor and he will not even know your name. This time will definitely be the hardest for students because they are going from living in a house with their parents telling them, when to get up and go to school, when to go to bed, to having to wake up on your own. Students are tricked into thinking college classes will be the same as the classes they took in high school based on the name of the class, when really they need to focus on the credentials of the class as well the rigor of the teacher’s teachings. . “They expect students to make inferences, interpret results, analyze conflicting explanations of phenomena, support arguments with evidence, solve complex problems that have no obvious answer, reach conclusions, offer explanations, conduct research, engage in the give-and-take of ideas, and generally think deeply about what they are being taught” (National Research Council, 2002). College curriculum is extremely different from high school. The tasks you expected to have completed in a week in high school, you are given a max of one day to have the assignment complete. It could range from reading a certain amount of books in one day, too writing “well-reasoned, well organized, and well documented with evidence
Attending college right after high school can be terrifying at times, but I found it is even more intimidating once you go back to school after being out for a few years. Self-discipline has to be trained all over again and the motivation to work hard has to be implemented daily to gain the successful grades each student wants to receive. As you continue to grow, you learn there are many ways to enhance your learning skills and become the most knowledgeable student you could only have imagined being. Using different approaches with the way you learn helps develop a good foundation for each student’s time while attending college. Becoming a well-rounded student takes time and an abundant amount of effort along with understanding your strengths and weaknesses in Life Factors, styles of learning and improving yourself as a critical thinker.
However not everyone does get the opportunity to do so, so if you do be grateful. We can also compare that college is a lot more challenging and complex compared to high school. In college it is a higher level of learning, which required more time and effort that goes towards your studies. Even though college may be very tiring at some points, college is still way more enjoyable than high school. In college you have all the freedom in the world, which is very rewarding. However, having good judgment in college is a must because in college we are all mature students now. So this is the time to get to know yourself, and find what you can and cannot do, and once you find out you then get the opportunity to fix what is needed to be fixed. It is also the time to find what you enjoy to do and the things that you don’t enjoy.
As a child I did not know a lot about college. None of the adults in my life had been to College, my family did not talk about it, and it seemed like a distant land that I heard about only in movies and on Television. I was first introduced to college when my third grade class took a field trip to Iowa State University, clearly a much needed field trip considering my lack of exposure to higher education. I was immediately amazed by the grand architecture and massive buildings. I had never seen anything like a University campus before. The few things that I remember about the trip were that everything was big, the college students played with us, and we got to swim in the pool. While the larger purpose of the field trip may have been lost to my childhood excitement of getting to swim in a big pool, the field trip did mark the beginning of my knowledge of higher education and from then on I always viewed it as something that I would be a part of eventually, even if it did seem like a very distant future at age eight. As I grew older I developed other reasons for wanting to attend colle...
I know that college will be challenging for me because I am a recent high school graduate and college is new to me. In college, many things easily distract me, but in high school, the teachers kept me on track. Now I have to do this by myself. In addition, college work is very difficult, especially when I have homework in every
College takes a serious toll on people, some are able to strive through and come out on top and some suffer from outside family issues, can’t financially keep up with school or just lack the skills that are needed for higher education. College sometimes just isn’t for everyone; and students can’t handle it all like I couldn’t myself.
Recently I was asked, "How did you end up in college?" It sounded simple enough, but when it came down to writing it I had no clue on where to start. Who influenced me to stay on track, and how did they do so? My mind was blank, but I have never been a person of many words. The truth is I never really gave it too much thought. Growing up I always had college as a goal, but I've found that what I thought I would be going to college to become and what I am actually doing in college proved to be two completely different things.
"Tomorrow is the first day of what I will become." I wrote this in my diary the night before my first day of college. I was anxious as I imagined the stereotypical college room: intellectual students, in-depth discussions about neat stuff, and of course, a casual professor sporting the tweed jacket with leather elbows. I was also ill as I foresaw myself drowning in a murky pool of reading assignments and finals, hearing a deep, depressing voice ask "What can you do with your life?" Since then, I've settled comfortably into the college "scene" and have treated myself to the myth that I'll hear my calling someday, and that my future will introduce itself to me with a hardy handshake. I can't completely rid my conscience from reality, however. My university education and college experience has become a sort of fitful, and sleepless night, in which I have wonderful dreams and ideas, but when I awaken to apply these aspirations, reality sounds as a six thirty alarm and my dreams are forgotten.
College isn’t easy, in fact, it’s scary. It can be somewhat intimidating, and the work may tend to have it’s overwhelming moments. We all go to college for so many different reasons. The main reason why I came to college, is to get a higher level of education. Us as students are so used to constantly being pushed to work towards a higher education such as college, but is it really worth it in the end? Is a college education worth the investment of all your precious time where you could be doing anything besides dreadful homework? Is it worth all your hard earned saved money and endless energy? Is a college degree really worth being stuck in student loan debt that you’ll be paying off for years?
For my first major test in college, I made a sixty-nine. After the grade was put in the grade book, I had the sudden realization that college was nothing like high school. Studying was actually required in order to pass the class and it was something that I just was not used to doing. High school teaches students that college is going to be exactly the same, when in reality it isn’t the same. Everyday my friends in high school hear me tell them that college is very different and that they will actually have to start studying for their