<p>For those who've started the experience.<br>
What was most the unexpected/surprising? both on the positive and negative sides.</p>
<p>For me it was:</p>
<p>The variety of personalities POV I encountered
The amount of drug abuse</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>The amount of dumb****s.</p>
<p>I mean, I go to UCLA. A top 25 national university, and the amount of dumb****s here is beyond me. I have really lost all respect for my future degree - but I’m fine as long as my employers don’t.</p>
<p>how a new social life can kill your grades</p>
<p>I was surprised how so many of my professors loved it when I ask them challenging questions. I never experienced that in high school. I also loved the diversity in my school. Nearly every race and ethnicity is represented at my school - I grew up in a very homogeneous community as a child. Next, I love how approachable and knowledgeable the professors are. I have become close to three of my professors and this is only my first semester in freshman year. Finally, I love how I can be myself at school. People do not care what you wear, what your sexual orientation is etc. I just love that.</p>
<p>ditto everything above. I guess I was surprised that basically all the guys I know are arrogant, horny idiots. I got the hint that some of them are actually nice guys beneath, but none of them dare to show it. It’s like you need to be a badass who gets hammered and laid every weekend to fit in. Ridiculous</p>
<p>How much the professors enjoyed teaching (for the most part). They encouraged us to come to office hours and even if we didn’t have questions, just to talk about the course. I never expected that.</p>
<p>how overrated it is. That whole independence ********. end up spending most of my time studying my ass off and not getting the grades I wanted. Also my school’s lack of social life and it being full of arrogant pricks</p>
<p>You go to Case Western. Transfer the hell out. Everyone I know who goes there hates it.</p>
<p>How overrated it is and what binks said, the amount of dumb****s, even at higher ranked colleges</p>
<p>@binks09- I wholeheartedly agree</p>
<p>Dumb s*** happens at all colleges because dumb people are everywhere.</p>
<p>It doesn’t end in college. Once you get out in the working force and see the “real world”, you’ll see that society is just full of dumb people doing dumb s***.</p>
<p>My advice, do all the dumb s*** you can now, because you can use your youth as an excuse.</p>
<p>I was surprised at how many genuinely friendly and nice people there are at my school. I was also surprised at how many people love to learn and ask questions about the material.</p>
<p>I surprised myself by being a lot more social than I was in high school. That was an awesome surprise.</p>
<p>I was surprised by how little work I had to put in to get good grades. Unfortunately, that didn’t work for one of my classes this semester. But live and learn, I guess.</p>
<p>Here in college, most of your classes, especially in the big lectures, consist of only 1 or 2 exams and a final. Which suck if you perform poorly on even one exam. Back in high school, I liked having graded homework assignments and mini quizzes in between exams because it prepared me for the finals and midterms in terms of getting familiar with the material and the format of the exams. </p>
<p>Also, I’ve gotten a bit more social as well. I used to isolate myself A LOT back in high school. I was known as the quiet girl who sat in the back of the classroom.</p>
<p>I second the “dumb” thing also. There are a lot of smart kids at my school, but the number of dumb people in terms of the questions they ask in class are just surprising o_O</p>
<p>lol I just watched Maury, Bigeastbeast is right there is no shortage of idiocy in this world.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with some of the above stuff. A few important things about college:
1.) most of your grades are relative to how everyone else in that class. That means a certain number of the people at the top % get an A, the next get a B, and so on and so forth.
2.) Most of your grades will be based on how well you do on a few major tests per class. That means for the most part that handouts and daily homework is more for your own improvement than your grade.
3.) You basically have to be very independent. You have to make sure you get your stuff done, register for classes on time, take part actively in stuff, ask for recommendations, etc.
4.) How much of a social life you have depends on a.) how good you are at time management b.) how much you care about your grades and c.) how smart you are. Don’t get too caught up in alcohol and stuff and make sure you set academics first and foremost. That being said, also HAVE A LIFE.</p>
<p>
quoting bigeast for great truth</p>
<p>How much I wanted to finish.</p>
<p>How frustrated I would get with college. Every semester there is always a certain point where I doubt rather or not I really want to finish my 4-year degree and seriously go through other options. I even have had some technical schools bookmarked just for when I hit this particular bump in the road. I find it hard to keep motivation with a lot of things- school, job, different other things in life. </p>
<p>Also the number of stupid questions I’ve heard asked.</p>
<p>Positive:
I was an average student in high school and somehow managed all A/A-s in my classes
Some of my friends became closer than family in just a few months.
I actually loved dorm life</p>
<p>Negative:
I just came home and I wish I could go back right now.
There’s not a lot of room to explore and take fun classes as a science major.</p>
<p>The thing that surprised me is probably how much more voluntary studying I do rather than forced study.</p>