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jenisautistic
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15 Mar 2014, 3:56 pm

How Is it different from pk - 12th grade? Do you like college better?


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nebrets
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15 Mar 2014, 4:24 pm

College is very different. You have to keep up with your own schedule. You are not in class all day, you are in class perhaps 12-15 hrs a week (plus labs). You have lots more independent study and outside work expected of you. You still have your basics courses (English, history, government, math, science, etc) but most of your classes are in your area of major or concentration. You also have some measure of choice in what classes you take and when they will be.


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Francis91
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15 Mar 2014, 8:17 pm

Well first of all, I live in Montréal so I guess that the education system I have been trough is a bit different than yours. Howerver, looking at the previous comment I think that noticeable diffences in college still remain the same.

As stated in the earlier comment, you have a lot more freedom and most of the courses you follow are concentrated toward your field of interest.

From a social point of view, the teachers have more responsabilities of their own wich means less time for their students outside of class so interactions with teachers are a bit less personal in collge. Furthermore, other students are also more mature, friendlier and a lot easier to make contact with.

Personally, I prefer college because I felt like I had a lot more control over my schedule and it is much easier to have a relativly active social life. You will also be more mature when you get there and to see how you become an adult during your college time a nice and fullfiling experience.

PS: Sorry for my bad english, my corrector still works in french for some reasons and underlines everything in red and i'm too lazy to correct all my mistakes manually.

Bonne journée! (have a nice day)


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NeonReggae
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24 Mar 2014, 7:22 pm

It's a lot more fun and a lot more independent based on what I heard.



Cyanide
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25 Mar 2014, 2:57 am

It's like one giant disappointment.



thewhitrbbit
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25 Mar 2014, 9:22 am

In my experience, most people keep to themselves. In a college of 10,000 people, it's nowhere near as cliquey as high school. You are responsible for yourself, you may only attend 1 or 2 classes a day. There's much more independent work, and many more opportunities for social engagement.



KTLLo
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25 Mar 2014, 9:31 am

The system also different in Hong Kong. But after I enter to vocational training institution(I think it approximately an community college, but focus on more on the certain topic), I have to study on my own, but it is much better, at least I can hide from other, esp. those bullies.

Edit: Fix spelling mistake



Last edited by KTLLo on 26 Mar 2014, 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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26 Mar 2014, 12:38 am

I go to a liberal arts college with only about 2500 people so it kind of reminds me of high school, but a lot better. No waking up at 6 AM, getting sent to the office for being late, and the people are smarter and more mature. Plus I get to study subjects I actually enjoy



Oceanni
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28 Mar 2014, 7:28 pm

It really can go either way, depending on what you focus on. I understand all the good points people have said here and thus I'll not repeat them, and I still prefer college over high school any day, but for me doing something that I'm actually good at and that I like is really stressful to the point of having shutdowns more regularly (and a meltdown. which was new to me at this stage in my life. which scared me to no end). College is good in the sense that you can obsess over something and get praise for it and even good grades and LOTS of learning, but if you get your head too deep on it you end up sabotaging yourself. You have to find a middle ground.
Other than that, socializing is more relaxed– in my country at least. You don't have to make friends if you don't want to, and most people go there to learn and to be quiet. Teachers can be difficult to talk to, but then again there's always the wonderful e-mail.



fadomakar
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29 Mar 2014, 3:58 am

It really depends on the college, honestly. I go to a medium-sized highly-ranked liberal arts school (about 7,000 undergrads, if you add all the different types of grad students it's like 15,000). It's pretty nice, BUT the social aspect really really depends on where you go to school. My school has a big focus on greek life (frats and sororities) so a lot of the students are into that kind of thing, whereas I'm the complete opposite. Other schools have very different student bodies that are more quiet/reserved/quirky than the one where I go. But, at just about any school you'll be able to find people to be friends with--I've found a lot of people (or rather they've found me because I'm bad at approaching people) who share similar interests and/or personalities with me. The social part can be fun, but I sort of preferred high school because there was a more concrete schedule for when to socialize, when to go to class, and when to go home and unwind. Here, since you live at school and live with a roommate/other students, it's been harder (for me at least) to create that sort of schedule I really need and to get that time to relax by myself since there are always people around and they have irregular schedules. That's probably the one thing I hate the most about college, but if you commute or have a single room, that won't be a problem. Being around people all the time can be incredibly draining and it's caused some problems for me.

On the more positive side, the classes are fantastic. Here, there are basic requirements you have to fulfill to graduate, but you have a ton of options for your classes and the schedule is much easier than in high school (since you might have, say, 2 classes back to back and then a 2 hour break, then just one more class, and then you're done for the day, or something like that. You could even have no classes on certain days. There's a ton of variation). You can basically make your own schedule with whatever YOU want to learn. My professors have been mostly awesome, and while it's harder to get to know some of them because the classes can sometimes be large, generally you end up with one or two professors you know pretty well (or at least I did) and can talk to more casually, especially if you do really well in one particular field (you stand out that way and professors want to get to know you more). I love the academic side of college SO much, but it can get really stressful really fast. Professors do a lot less to remind you of things you need to do and a lot less to prepare you for tests, etc.--all of that is on you to do on your own. It's much much more independent, which has positives and negatives. Plus tests count a lot more, which can make things harder. But, like I said, you really get to branch out and go deep into fields of your own interest, usually with professors helping you along the way, which is super fun. It takes some time to get used to and you definitely have to develop good time-management skills, and you have to sort of re-adjust your study habits to accommodate your new surroundings (new room, people around a lot, etc.).

Overall, I like it a lot more than high school because of the academic side. But, the social part can be challenging--it's fun because you meet a larger variety of people and have more independence, but it's also hard because you're surrounded by people so often. It's also a bit harder to impose structure on your schedule than it is in high school, but it can certainly be done.