<p>I along with millions of other students, go through high school not to learn, but to improve GPA and improve ranks and get into a good school.</p>
<p>From 9th grade its been about trying to get into a good college.</p>
<p>what about the good ole days when people learned for learning's sake?</p>
<p>I had more free time in high school(even when I was doing extracurricular activities) than i do with college and homework alone. </p>
<p>A lot of it is time management, I don't think it's necessarily harder, just a lot more courseload.</p>
<p>PS. I don't feel the pressure to keep up a high gpa in college, because I know it's impossible. That and I'm actually learning for learning sake, which is another difference between college and hgih school. </p>
<p>But then again if you're aiming to go to a top grad school, I'm pretty sure your situation would be different(i'm not aiming for grad school)</p>
<p>Students that went to top high schools for example like Boston Latin (especially before quotas watered it down) or close approximations - generally have a far easier time 1st year in most universities. These kids that fail to do the work in for example average high schools and actually get into a moderately selective college - are only fooling themselves - they are only delaying what they will need to learn, unless for example they plan to skate by at the bottom of the class</p>
<p>The basic lesson is to treat high school academics seriously, understand teachers are there to help you</p>
<p>I have admittedly only been in college for a month, but it strikes me as being far more work than high school, which I unfortunatly neglected to do much work in, yet managed to do well enough to get into a good school. I go to a school that princeton review included in its top 20 list of "Students never stop studying", so perhaps I have it worse than others. I get anywhere from 350-500 pages to read a week (I'm in 4 reading intensive classes) and an occasional essay, but none of the work is overly burdening as long as you stay on top of the work. So yes, college is tougher than high school, but that's not saying much.</p>
<p>High school was a complete joke, compared to this.</p>
<p>Since it's my first semester and I'm only taking intro courses for the most part, the material is easy and the free time makes it easier. Procrastination can be a problem if you don't have good time management skills, but other than that it seems easier so far. Well the level of work expected of you is higher, but that's only natural.</p>
<p>I don't know, I don't think the workload is a lot different, I don't find myself studying much more, and I actually don't have a bunch of work. However, the grading is different. Essentially, you are in AP grading mode, B is the norm, the real smart students will get A's. For almost all my classes the grading scales are the top 20% with A's, 20-60% B's, 60-90% C, 90-100% D/F. So it's hard to get A's in most classes. I kind of wish I took honors courses because honors grading is easier.</p>
<p>College is okay as long as you don't have too many bad days/bad profs. Some people only give you two tests and if you have a off day you pretty much flunk the course.</p>
<p>What seems harder is the social aspect. Most of the people I've encountered at college are idiots. Maybe I was just spoiled at my high school being in such a great environment. But I can't stand most of them--they're rude, inconsiderant, and have bad morals!</p>
<p><em>Some people only give you two tests and if you have a off day you pretty much flunk the course.</em></p>
<p>Yeah, I despise those classes for the most part. I don't know what genius thought that a 3 test semester was a good idea, because its certainly not. Just makes an easier semester for the teacher.</p>
<p>And yeah, there are a lot of jerks at college, or so it would appear. I manage to avoid most of them by focusing on where I'm headed instead of the people in my way. You're a commuter like me, right MacTech92? Then both of us got the 'good end of the stick', so to speak, when it comes to those types of people at college. We don't have to live with them or be around them most of the day!</p>
<p>And 'bad morals' indeed! It seems like so many of those people are just going to college for parties and 'intimate relations', grades take a back seat to those two 'tres important' things that must get done. </p>
<p>Oh well, less job competition in the market, w00t!</p>
<p>I'm a first year engineer right now at Purdue. All I can say is that the workload in college is not neccessarily more, but the fact that college students have so much freedom makes it hard to focus. If you have no procrastination problems it will be easy. But keep in mind, this is only the first year; after that, even if you study consistently and have the best time management, you will still get a ****load of work (if engineering).</p>
<p>time management is the key factor in college. If you handle that well, college will be much easier than high school and if not, you will be stressed. It's definitely a big advantage to be able to sleep in on many days (6 AM wake up in high school sucked) and I feel that helps bring down the stress. </p>
<p>However, you will find your self studying a lot more in college. I mean studying in its true sense to understand concepts, not cramming the night before. Exams in college are quite different from HS and require you to apply concepts in various ways.</p>
<p>it depends on area of study and courses (let me explain before you call me captain obvious). if you took a dozen ap courses in high school, you'll be taking real math, science, or engineering (and you never had anything like an engineering course in high school! at least you have an idea what math and science are like) courses or courses with tons of reading. people who took normal classes in high school (the ones that were slightly more of a breeze* than the ap classes), are taking the easy classes their first couple years of college, and it won't be much harder than high school since they're the same classes that so many high schoolers took anyway.</p>
<p>the largest change in difficulty seems to be that professors expect you to do things outside of class. whereas in high school, one could learn material by merely attending class every day, college professors want students coming to class to know what the hell is going on. "go home and _____ before next class" means just that - do it. the endless repetition of basic concepts is gone. this means classes won't get boring as often, but the tradeoff is that they keep you on your toes, something you may not be used to.</p>
<p>the flip side is that if a student has the motivation (motivation? what's that?) to learn, he or she should succeed. a little studying, attending office hours, emailing the professor a question, just a bit of effort is usually enough if one ever has a problem. high school teachers could sometimes be difficult to get additional help from, but a vast supply of office hours, TAs, and other resources make help available to those who seek it.</p>
<p>for comparison, i'm talking about a large, slightly above average public high school. people who go to magnet or inner city high schools will need to shift their expectations accordingly. also adjust expectations based on the university. while some in this thread find that top national universities are easier than their high schools, i'm going to wager that their experiences aren't representative of the norm. </p>
<p>oh yeah, time management and such. blah blah blah, it's already been addressed, read the other posts. that reminds me, i have some homework due in 4.5 hours, time to get back to work =(</p>
<p>*excluding calculus. man, i hate calculus. if you struggled in math, you're okay in my book. not statistics, though. really cool class, but it's a joke.</p>
<p>College is harder when your professors stink at teaching and don't want to attend Office Hours. It really depends on them and what class you are taking.</p>
<p>I know some classes at Cal literally have 50% fail rates, so if you're in one of those then it is much difficult than HS classes.</p>
<p>About Calculus...Calculus is like Jerkyll and Hyde at Cal. Calculus 1A is ridiculously easy, many HS students could ace the midterm I had yesterday. However, Calculus 1B (Second Semester) is one of the most failed classes on campus, Yeah, doesn't that suck. I'm glad I only need one semester of Calc.</p>
<p>I feel college in terms of academics, isn't too bad if you know how to manage your time. The social life in college, is so much more than high school. Because of that, many people tend to go out more and forget about their studies. If you can balance academics and the social life, then your fine.</p>