How is/was your college experience?

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I'm an 18 year old autistic girl I'm a senior in high school and I have two weeks left of high school. I'm excited but sad because I made a lot of friends in high school and were a going to different colleges so I won't see them often. I'm really shy and awkward so its hard for me to make friends and I know I'm not the only one here that is. I'm worried when I go off to school that I might not like it I'll be lonely because my friends and family aren't there. I feel like I might have a hard time adjusting and people there might not like me because I'm socially awkward. I just want to know what was your experience with college like? Do you feel like it was better than high school or no?

My college experience isn't. I tutor a little and program a lot because I'm nearly spinning off the edge of a flying ball of sentient slime.

High school is desperately needed, academia is barbaric.

It depends. My college years where miserable for the most part, too many people, too much pressure, but in the end, I bit the bullet and pulled through, and now I can do what I can do best: working behind a desk, head suck into thousands of books, and writing down my thoughts about it. I LOVE academics and doing science, and working on my PhD is exhausting, but fullfilling, because it is where I can intellectually shine.
I think with Aspies, college can be very extreme, in all regards. If you find something you enjoy, everything else will be irrelevant. But if there is something disturbing your balance, it will hit you hard - and it will most definitely people. And no matter what people say, pulling through college all alone is very, very hard work. Harder thant it needed to be.

College was pretty good for me....mostly because I met someone on the first day who became by best friend. If not for that...it would have been a much sadder experience, I'm sure.

im going to college this yr too and im just trying to enjoy the last few weeks. try to enjoy it while it lasts. life is short, stop worrying too much

I'm going to college this year too. My dad who is NT said college is better, and he claims that he had a worse high school time than I did both socially/academically

I really enjoy college. the only thig I hate is that I have made to friend who want to hang out out side of the school grounds. I ask people to do some thing fun and they all say they are too busy but when and if they ask me I say yes and make time for them. I have no clue why they won't make time for me

I had a good experience at college. I got along well with my professors.

However, I went as an older student,so I didn't make many friends.

I believe you, the OP, has a nice personality. You'll make friends easily in college.

College is very hard for me because I am so isolated from people and don't really interact with people outside of school/work.

the apex of a mixed bag. It goes a little like this: High school was kinda like anal rape every day, and to compound it, I tried to "join" the in-crowd, which really made a field day for them. It also gave kids the op to use me to buy them beer and drive them to parties, and some of them felt bad for me, so some would be nice to me. But still, girls wouldn't even politely turn me down, they'd just say "ew" or not even respond. FF to college, it was almost like being let of out prison: I had more opportunity and freedom than I knew what to do with, in social terms. I made my first friends in a club but the kids weren't too fun and had no girls to hang out with. As a straight male, that was really my major in college: learning how to get laid. I'm also barely above 5 feet tall, so I was fighting both freakish height and horrendous, horrific social skills. When I made my first female friend in my life, the second year I was at that college, and I transferred there soph year, it was like a hurculean task, a monumental achievement. No one said "ew" to me and girls would politely turn me away, but I took their "I gotta check my schedule" literally, even when they didn't call me back, or when I'd hit on one at a party and she'd say "I'll be right back," i expected her to be. I also joined a frat. Long story short: even with guys, not getting the subtleties of communication got me badly, and also the girls thing got my reputation so bad I got in trouble with my frat. Tho ultimately, I did score a one night stand, I still would have had way more friends, more girls, more everything were it not for AS. Everyday of college, I could tell myself "its better than HS," so that and the first female friend made me think I was doing everything right, even tho I was destroying myself. That AS got me bad in K-12 too which is why I didn't make friends then and get social experience.

College was SO much better for me.

Of course, I say that with a caveat.
In school, I was always the oddball, but, by high school, I was no longer a real outcast or bullied badly anymore, because people like people who are nice and I was never mean to anyone, everyone liked me and treated me well at school. Most of my closest friends were outside of school at that time, so I did not feel the prior pressure of trying to fit in or feeling left out because I didn't get invited to things. While that was much less pressure than grade school and jr high, I will never have the fond 'wish I was still in high school' feeling some people get.
SO, on to college... I went to a University, where I was poor and working multiple jobs at minimum wage and commuting every day, rather than those living on campus and whose parents bought them textbooks, etc. THAT is where I really stuck out.
Classes were horrible, not what I expected... Lit? We basically read aloud in class and the preppy type teacher LOVED calling me out for 'not paying attention' and another one kept making a big deal because I didn't have the textbook (I couldn't afford them every semester, I'd copy assignment pages and take the hits to my test grades for anything I'd missed).
It. Was. Awful. So much stress of trying to socially please that I don't even remember the work.

SO, I switched to night school.
There were adults and there were 'kids' my age. They were different, though, not just there to party or have a social life or be obsessed with clubs and committees, most were working stiffs like me and usually the first to go to school in their families. They were there to learn, and they helped each other and didn't exclude people. The instructors were also usually freelancers who were professionals during they day. They NEVER called people out in front of the other students, they'd take them aside, just like in a real professional workplace, and address issues (like not having a textbook) fairly privately.
I LOVED it.
I was able to absorb myself in learning for the first time ever, and not worry about the hustle and bustle of a daytime campus.

I sometimes wonder if I missed out on the 'full' college experience by not living in a dorm and getting to just focus on school. But, then I think how much of a pain it is to live with people and get over that regret pretty quickly.

Either way, you'll cope with what you have to.
If you all weren't going to school, you'd be shifting your circle of friends because of incompatible job schedules and marriages, etc. it's a constantly shifting part of life.

College Life has been really awesome for the most part! I've learned so much in my classes. I've also found a group of aspies to hang out with at school Cool but I'm not as social as I want to be sometimes, especially when it's crunch time, but that's okay I guess. I'm still an undergraduate looking to go into Asian studies and study Chinese modern history perhaps and also the arts.

Last edited by FanDe on 28 May 2014, 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have had pretty good experiences in college. Granted, I go to a really small liberal arts school that I can barely afford, but I've found that these are some ways in which I've managed to stay afloat:

1. If at all possible, get to know your professors. Generally, they're decent people, although certainly, results may vary. Especially get to know professors who share your special interests, even if those interests are outside your major - they make for wonderful conversation partners.
2. Don't be afraid to ask for what you need. I spent my first semester anxious and upset because I didn't know exactly how much flexibility I had. Even without documented accommodations, professors are generally more understanding than some high school teachers about life getting in the way and how that impacts performance. The trick is to talk to them before things get so far out of hand that you can't handle them.
3. If at all possible, try an independent study - an excellent opportunity to work one on one with a member of faculty in a specific area of study or on a long-term project. This is a good way to incorporate your interests into your schooling!

These are just a few ideas, I could probably write a book about all the coping tools I've developed for college! I hope this helps you not worry.