<p>I’ll address the second part about at universities… At my 4-year now, a large public school, even in the biggest of lecture classes the teachers generally asked that you simply be a mature respectful adult and simply not do anything irritating. For example, don’t show up late, don’t text, don’t surf the web, don’t eat (noticeably), and don’t talk. </p>
<p>The difference from HS is that the default expectation is that you’re able to abide by these rules happily, and if you don’t then you should probably just leave… because everybody else can.</p>
<p>As far as teachers being on your ass about getting your schoolwork done - not at all, if you don’t do your stuff then you get a bad grade, and there’s no sympathy for that.</p>
<p>With large lecture classes there are virtually almost always empty seats, so you absolutely can drop in on any of these.</p>
<p>In some ways it is like high school, in other ways it is not. </p>
<p>The students are exactly the same: lethargic, uninvolved, lazy, disinterested, arrogant, insecure, etc. </p>
<p>The environment is different: simply put, you’re on your own. Some professors care what students do, most do not. </p>
<p>In my into to business class (8am) this guy would come in obviously hung-over and a little stoned from the last night and put his head down on the desk. He would sleep through the entire class. Problem is, he was in the very front row literally 2 feet from the professor. Still, the professor did not say a word to him throughout the entire class.</p>
<p>It varies on what you’re taking and what UC is nearby breathing down the administration’s throat - not to mention what high school you come from (if you come from a high school!)</p>
<p>My high school had a pretty gimpy social scene; I wasn’t there that long but I recall sleeping in class and not really talking to anyone because I wasn’t interested in them, and they weren’t interested in me. There were some kids that would’ve probably happily gotten a 4.5 AP GPA with all that great stuff, but they were lacking any substance except for the ability to get a 2300+ score on an SAT like much of college confidential. </p>
<p>I’ve never fallen asleep in a CCC class of any kind. Maybe I’m just stupid or something, but aside from the online psychology class I had, I feel I’ve worked hard for the 75 or so units on my record. Most of my professors had the belief that a B was an excellent grade, I recall my English one telling us, “If you get an A in this class, my heart goes out to you.” (Feel free to criticize my English skills, I’m a sloppy writer when it comes to forum posts!) </p>
<p>In the 3 years I’ve attended community college, I’ve had some pretty pricky teachers too; The only B I ever received for a programming class was with a teacher that used a broken Excel worksheet and liked to give quizzes that lasted the first ten minutes of class (which I was usually late to XD). The prickiest? The chemistry lab people. Holy cow, 10pm after a 3 and a half hour lab session and you’d get sent back to the lab to clean out a volumetric pipette if there was the faintest smudge of color on the PH tester. </p>
<p>The only thing that still sucks about CC is teachers taking attendance. I can’t wait until I get into Berkeley and go to a class of three hundred students. No attendance for me. I will enter and leave as I please.</p>
<p>Community college is like high school classes, but CC classes are way harder. I know I will be a slighly mature transfer due to the fact that I was stressed in high school, as well as struggling with learning differences. But hey, what can I do. All I can worry about is now.</p>