Compare and Contrast: Highschool vs. College

My memory of the first day of high school brings me back to the feeling of being overwhelmed. There were students allocated everywhere in one building. It seemed like every one was confused on where to go and how to behave. It seems like a long time ago to me, but my first day at college brought back those feelings. Even though there weren’t as many people scurrying around, I still felt this overwhelming sense of confusion. Now I find myself as a freshman in college, somewhat similar to that freshman in high school with just a little more independence than what I had four years ago.

Most students after grammar school are mandated to attend high school. On the other hand, college is a choice. Although high school teaches us many lesson on the path of maturity, college puts that lesson to a test. Even though there are many similarities between high school and college there are just as many differences.

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As a freshman in high school, you find yourself developing at an accelerated rate. You have a little more freedom than middle school, a very structured class schedule and most of all the same classmates stick with you throughout all four years. High school is a very structured environment. You become dependent on your teachers and other classmates to guide you through all four years. In college, you are self-reliant and manage your own time and schedule. Depending on others will not help enhance your grades. A high school student needs to structure his or her time and find tune in his or her study habits to ensure better results.

To manage your time is a learned experience in high school and carried on through college. Learning how to manage your time in high school all comes together in college. Your time management skills are put to the test in college. Even though the environment in college is to be independent, you depend on the skills learned from high school to help achieve that independence.

Classes in high school are very structured and defined by the mandatory credits for graduation. These classes are general and are distributed on an annual basis. All students share the same classes that are based on the grade level they are attending. In high school, you depend on your teachers for that constant reminder of the completion of assignments. On the other hand, in college your professors simply lecture. It is up to the student to understand the material from the lecture. Courses are selected by the student based on their choice of major. Even though the courses are mandated, the selection of courses are defined by the student. For both, high school and college, grades are dependent on the achievement or failure of courses.

Homework and assignments are given in high school as an extra credit mechanism to help raise grades. There is more leniency to help achieve a passing grade. In high school, by applying yourself to the classes you are assigned, your grade will reflect on the amount of participation during class. In college, homework is truly based on the amount of effort you place in studying. The professors in college don’t give that leniency. The expectation of a responsible student is to understand and know the material for future use. Tests are given based on the material to further ones knowledge of the course. These tests are based on your grade. Achieving this is based on the effort put into studying, similar to the effort that is placed in high school. In conclusion, some may think high school and college are different when in fact they have similarities. Grammar school prepares us for high school. High school prepares us for college. College prepares us for the future. These experiences define us as individuals. Each environment presents us with learning experiences that we depend on to enhance our abilities to become adults. These experiences are based on appropriate decisions and choices. In order to find the similarities and differences, a student must experience the learning environment for themselves.