<p>im a high school senior and i was just wondering how much harder college is than high school, i take three ap classes and got a 30 on the ACT should college be that much harder. Im gonna either go to a state school or a top 20 school so base your oppinions on those thanks a lot.</p>
<p>Depends. School, major, all important.</p>
<p>Engineering majors often say school is tough, really tough, even if they were the classic over-achievers and only attend state uni. Depending on the school again, other majors might feel overstressed comparitively, like architecture majors who spend all of their time in the studio, etc. Also many schools are known for their all-consuming or uber hard academics: CalTech, UChic, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>If you are smart enough to get into the Top 20, chances are college will be a natural progression from what you've done in HS - you'll have an easier time adjusting if you're a liberal arts major and organized ;). If you are admitted to a university, it means they think you can handle the work. Most of my friends going to state uni say it is infinitely easier than HS. And then most everyone else says it has been a natural progression, like elementary -> middle, middle - > high school, etc. I have met kids who said the work was "hard" but nobody who has said it was impossible. I think on the whole once you manage your time, it won't seem harder than HS.</p>
<p>I think the 'hard' part is being mostly on your own as far as managing time, doing homework, going to class, etc., and not so much the actual work that you're doing. The school's more involved in all that in high school. No one is going to check and make sure you've done the reading that you were supposed to, your homework problems might not be collected, the professor is probably not going to do a big review before each exam, no one is going to be calling you at home if you miss a bunch of classes to see why you've been absent, etc. You have to be disciplined and keep up with things without someone checking up on you.</p>
<p>In college, every exam, every paper, every assignment can make you or break you academically. You have to put time aside for studying and in some classes you have to teach yourself (as I learned). Taking four of five classes in college at first seemed like nothing considering my high school schedule consisted of 8 classes a day, but the truth to the matter is its really not IMHO.</p>
<p>in high school, you spend most of your academic time in school. in college, you spend most of your academic time studying on your own.</p>
<p>"In college, every exam, every paper, every assignment can make you or break you academically."</p>
<p>That is what I'm scared of. But shorter days..:D</p>
<p>The material itself is going to be marginally harder, but making yourself study and work and manage your time well outside of class will be harder.</p>
<p>I think the biggest difference is that professors do not tell you what your homework is. They may give general assignments ( read all of this; or the lecture will be on that....) but it is up to you to decide what you need to do to learn the material. While some classes may have problem sets, odds are they will not be collected, so itis up to you to decide how well you know the material. For classes is the liberal arts/social sciences/humanities there will be tons of reading to synthesize and possibly only two or three exams and/or papers with few clues as to what will be on the tests.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with Blahdeblah and boysx3.</p>
<p>It's all about YOU. As for me, I was very motivated at the start of school, but just the sheer tempo of college has pulled me down a little. You see, in high school, you see everyone else around you and the fast paced tempo most people are at (or at least in my case). In college, you don't really see how other people fare. It's all up to you now.</p>
<p>And I personally think there's a lot more temptation to procrastinate in college. It's always "Oh, let's go out for group dinner now." or "Oooh, tennis season! Let's all gather and watch~" or "WEEKEND! PARTY!". I try to keep it under moderation, but at the same time, you don't want to be antisocial. It's all about finding the key balance, and fitting in all that you want to do in a day.</p>
<p>Oh, and another thing to add:
It's no longer high school, where you can take an exam to see the professor's "style" and then do better on the next exams. It's a usually a two-three shot deal, and screwing up even slightly first time around can hurt you big time.</p>
<p>Syneria's post reminded me of one more thing, and that is that no one else in college may be on the same schedule as you. Each person has different classes on their schedule, each with different assignments and due dates. You might be very overloaded with work at a time when your roommate is experiencing a lull , or vice-versa. You can't assume that any one else is not working as hard as you are, or harder than you are, at any point in time, because you really don't know. The kid going out two nights this week might not have had a breather for the past two weeks. You might be having an easy week while your roommate has two exams, two papers and a group project to do. </p>
<p>So you need to worry about yourself and not be comparing yourself to what others are doing at any point in time.</p>
<p>Enjoy the fact that while class material generally ramps up in difficult and the independence required of you, you get more free time both to study and play. Generally, despite what is said, HS isn't a fair predictor of college.</p>
<p>Some who excelled in HS simply by doing all the busy work, to compensate for a marginal mastery of material will fail out, as now all the focus is on learning and mastering. Busy work, like notes is not graded.</p>
<p>On the other hand, some people demotivated in HS, excel in college. It's all, just like every other question every one of us asks, is all going to depend on you.</p>
<p>Amen to that. You get wayyy more free time to ... everything.</p>
<p>My friend who did only so-so in HS is rocking here in college. He's taking organic chemistry as a freshman, got a rocking A (technically A+) in it, and will graduate in 2 years.</p>
<p>boysx3 also nailed it on the head.</p>
<p>It's just whether YOU are willing to put out. :)</p>