<p>Hey guys, I was just wondering, how does college life, speaking generally, differ from high school?</p>
<p>I attend a pretty darn good public high school, ranked top 20 something in the nation by newsweek top 30 something by USNWR. However, as prestigious as it is regionally, I feel absolutely MISERABLE in it. I have no close friends (the kinds you could share anything with), few acquaintances (meaning we'll talk on occasion but won't go out of the way to see one another), etc. I didn't even go to prom because I knew I wouldn't have a good time.</p>
<p>However, there was a recent residential program for high school seniors that I attended a couple weeks back. The only word for me to describe it would be magical, because I've never felt so happy in my life (at least since high school)</p>
<p>So just wondering, do you like it at your college? How's your social life? Are you (dare I say it) happy? Thanks for reading!</p>
<p>I love my community college! Community college is full of commuters though and probably is like high-school 2 to many people. If you are looking for a much more dramatic transition, don’t go to community college and go straight to a very large university!</p>
<p>^^ You should try looking at some of the college rating websites. There’s a really good one where students rate the social scene, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called. But try Googling for a few sites.</p>
<p>If you can’t make friends in high school, you won’t make friends in college. I’m happy during the school year, but not as happy as I was in high school. Mostly because I commute and because I’m in engineering. First year was better than any year of high school, though, because stuff was new and exciting.</p>
<p>You will make more friends in college than in high school if the reason you hated your high school was because of a homogeneous population. If you attend a medium to big sized college, you’ll find your niche.</p>
<p>I definitely like college a lot better than high school. I didn’t have many friends in high school, but it was a lot easier to make friends in college because everyone is starting out on equal footing and eager to make friends, people in general are nicer, there’s more people so you’re more likely to find kids you can ‘click’ with, and the college crowd itself is different from high school (ie: in my case, my college classmates in general are ‘nerdier’ and take school more seriously than my high school classmates).</p>
<p>Waaaaay disagree on that one. I had a very small amount of close friends in high school, but I’ve blossomed socially (so to speak) in college. If you’re in my situation–went to school with the same people K-12 and kept many of the same friends the entire time–it’s often helpful to be in a brand new setting, where there are no “limits” on who you can make friends with. I have a large number of legitimately close friends at college, and I really enjoy myself!</p>
<p>I like college waaaay better than high school.</p>
<p>Very little “busy work”, the professors treat you like adults, no one telling you to go here/do this/whatever. Plus, the professors get to do way more fun stuff in class.</p>
<p>For example: I’m a psych major. In my Psych 250 (intro to psych) class fall semester, we were speaking one day about defying social norms. The professor decided to dismiss the class a half hour early, telling us to use the time to “defy some social norms”. </p>
<p>One of my classmates decided to get a group of us together, myself included. We all picked a spot where lots of students walk by and looked up towards the sky.</p>
<p>About an hour later, we had over a hundred students gathered around. Some of them were from our class and were in on the joke; some of them were wondering what we were looking at. It was incredible.</p>
<p>well my schools runs from middle school to high school, and i got here in 9th so there’s a social disadvantage right there.
it’s not that homogenous, but i effed up my reputation in my school and i know it, but i’m hoping i won’t make the same mistakes in college</p>
<p>I would actually say that I’m about the same in college as in high school. At first in high school I was very quiet, and I never talked to anyone freshmen year. Sophomore year I started making friends and after that, I got to be pretty social. I never went to parties or even really hung out with a lot of people, but during school hours it would be really fun.</p>
<p>With college I’ve made one really good friend, and I got on pretty good terms with other people. I’m a little torn about how I feel about my college social life. I go to a community college in a pretty conservative town, so everyone there is really conservative and can be really outspoken about it- which is the exact opposite of me.</p>
<p>In high school everything seemed a little more crazy. You never knew what was going on, it was a little more…exciting. However, the people at my college are more mature and well, actually have goals in life. I like that atmosphere, and it’s inspiring. In high school sometimes people would look at me really funny if I mentioned college- or anything that actually had to do with school and work. </p>
<p>Basically, I’ve found a lot of people who are more similar to me in college. People who have my same interests and who actually care about what’s going on in their life and the consequences to their actions. I my just be starting the social cycle over again- in a few years I could be just as happy and surrounded by just as many friends as I was senior year. My college is just such a drastic change in atmosphere than high school so it’s hard to tell how I feel and what’s going on. I would say that I’m pretty happy, though. I’m getting to do a lot more in college than in high school- you get so many opportunities and everyone has been really supportive. </p>
<p>And yes, you are treated like an adult, which is great! You make your own decisions- and you are responsible for them. You really do have independence, I can tell even though I’m just living at home and going to community college, and it’s a great feeling. Just be careful with that independence ;)</p>
<p>It’s certainly much easier to meet people in college since you’re corralled in with thousands of kids with the same age in a residential setting. However, I feel that my expectations for college fell short after completing my freshmen year. </p>
<p>I had a good time in high school. I went to a pretty small school where I had a great set of friends whom I hung out with all the time. In college, I found that people just paled in comparison to the quirky personalities I knew back in high school. A lot of people in college ARE only concerned with sex and alcohol (it’s pretty obvious that they were deprived in high school) and it can get lame. But still, college is a pretty good time.</p>
<p>Someone above mentions sites that rate the social life of universities. I believe one of them is College Pr0wler (replace the 0 with an o). I know there’s more but can’t remember any of them. Highly advise checking them out since they often have reviews!</p>
<p>As for me… not far into college, but I’m enjoying it a billion times more than high school. Granted, high school was rough for my personally at home and I do miss people coming into college, but I’m much happier.</p>
<p>I love that website. Anyway, I suggest visiting the schools you’re interested in and keeping a positive outlook, that help get a feel of what my social life might be like in college. I usually find myself to be cynical and aloof It’s just that high school is so…well high school. People are catty and start drama over everything. Everyone is so fake. College cuts back on that bs.</p>
<p>After visiting my college for Preview Weekend and orientation, I have to say that I am in for a better social experience. I mean not that mine totally sucked in high school, it could have been great if I wanted it to, but it would have been fake and not worth my time. So I choose to not to put myself in certain social situations except for with my few close friends who I plan on staying friends with. But I could care less about the fake people. </p>
<p>But when I was visiting my college, I was naturally more socialable and friendly and I can just feel that I am going to have the time of life with some awesome people. My school and the open people there naturally brought that out in me, but I didn’t have this vibe at every college I visited. That’s how I know I made the right choice for getting every aspect out of my college experience, including social life. :)</p>
<p>I’m at Penn and one of my best friends is at Chicago. They are both very similar academically (with UChicago being a little more rigirous in some majors). Socially they are pretty darn different. For both of us college has been very different from high school and in many ways better. I would examine what you want out of the college experience and start working to change yourself now. There is a reason you don’t have any close friends in high school. You need to so some self evaluation and start working to fix those flaws about yourself now. You can’t magically become someone new the first day of college.</p>
<p>To answer PlattsburghLoser’s question, it might have been The U (.com). They have a YouTube account where you can watch reviews called theUrocks.</p>