<p>Are there any differences other than:</p>
<p>1) College classes are more lecture-y</p>
<p>2) Less busy work is given</p>
<p>Well in my opinions:
Big college classes (+60 students) are more “lecture-y”. However if you have a small classroom setting (>35 students) it will seem more like a high school class assuming your high school average classroom size is around 20-40 people.
College/University offer more variety of classes and you’re more likely to get more work outside of classes than you would in high school. Tests I would say are less frequent but depending on classes you may have quizzes literally every single week. </p>
<p>But there wouldn’t be any major difference imo expect for that very special teacher one-on-one convo during class. Also professors tend to go on forever whereas teachers will most likely make sure you understand the material the best you can. Teachers help you succeed with tests. Profs make you more independent on yourself to do well.</p>
<p>You actually have to go to class in high school</p>
<p>^This can also apply to some college classes that do take attendance or have something that is graded but still require you to be in class to get that grade.</p>
<p>College classes meet only a few times a week whereas high school classes usually meet everyday. </p>
<p>A high school class may include participation, attendance, tests, homework as part of a grade whereas a grade for college might only be based on a tests or a single paper. Now this will vary from school to school and even from class to class.</p>
<p>The professors really treat you like adults. This can be both good and bad.</p>
<p>Honestly, most of the difference is on the surface. Stuff like you only meet twice a week, most of your classes will only have 2 exams, stuff like that is easily visible. Beneath the surface, they’re basically the same. You will have some classes where there’s a lot of participation, like in high school, you will have some that are like a pure lecture with no input from students, like in high school. You will have some busy work, though I guess I’d say it’s less than in high school. Some of your professors will suck, just like some of your teachers sucked, and some will be great, just like some of your teachers were probably great. Hopefully you’ll find one class that you’re really into and you’ll try and maybe you’ll do research with that professor or something.</p>
<p>I disagree with what I think Descuff said. It’s been my experience that most professors won’t move on if people don’t understand the material.</p>
<p>College is a lot more work. There are more lecture based classes. There is a lot more reading, usually in dry, boring textbooks. You have a lot more choice on what to study. College campuses are much bigger and more like mini towns than just a school.</p>
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<p>In my experience (mostly larger, lecture based classes–I was a biochemistry and psychology double major), professors will move on even if people don’t understand the material, and to be honest, I don’t see how it could be any other way in the format of most of my classes. In my classes, at least, there was a certain amount of material that needed to be covered and professors usually scheduled it all out for the quarter. If you spent time dwelling on something that students didn’t understand, then you don’t have the time to cover everything you needed to in the course. In general, I’ve found that professors will invite students to ask more detailed questions or have a longer discussion during office hours, during section, or by appointment outside of class. There’s just not enough time to go over topics many times during lecture when you have other material to teach. Core concepts may be repeated, but students are expected to really work on the material outside of class to learn it and then ask for help if they need it.</p>
<p>Then again my school was on the quarter system. Maybe there are less time constraints on the semester system? I would imagine the principle would be the same either way, though.</p>
<p>High schools may grade based on 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C or some such, so tests will have mostly easier problems for the C students to get correct, with only a few harder problems for the B and A students.</p>
<p>College grading is not so constrained, so a test may have a higher proportion of harder problems, resulting in low median scores, but the low scores may still result in passing C grades.</p>
<p>College labs are more significant than high school labs.</p>
<p>Many high school AP courses cover a semester’s worth of college frosh level material over the course of a year. Actual college frosh level courses cover material at twice the speed of these high school AP courses.</p>
<p>The structure of a college class is (usually) entirely contingent on a syllabus, which after the first day of class may not be mentioned again. It is expected that YOU keep track of your due dates and assignments. </p>
<p>Sometimes a professor will be good at letting you know when things are due or what you should study for but generally your job as a student is to take what material the professor presents and apply it on your own (a.k.a. you ultimately teach yourself). A lot more responsibility than high school, but once you adjust to the routine it becomes much more manageable.</p>
<p>One of the biggest differences not mentioned yet is that in college, there is an expectation of “professional work.” In other words, something that you’d feel comfortable showing to a superior at work. At least that’s how I always approached it. Some high schools, or teachers in high schools, may have had this expectation, but in college it is far more universal.</p>
<p>Attendance is an interesting one. Often, it does not count towards your grade. Often, the professor or TAs will not notice if you are absent. Sometimes, it does count towards your grade. And sometimes (like the five person class I was in last quarter), the professor will definitely realize if you are absent. Even then, I guess, you could always make an excuse for an absence. I was never lacking a good excuse in college, which was not always true in high school (in college, you can generally skip class for interviews, which are year round). </p>
<p>Also most high schools don’t have TAs. A class of 25 in college would almost certainly have one TA, if not two. In some classes you will learn almost everything from the TAs, in other classes the TAs do next to nothing. Whereas in high school, if you had trouble with an assignment you might go straight to your teacher, me and my friends would go straight to our TAs.</p>
<p>There is a lot more independence and personal accountability in college. You will spend more of your time working on problems outside of class. There is less likely to be time to go over problems in class for math/science classes, and you have to take the initiative to go to office hours. For essays, you probably won’t get deadlines for rough drafts along the way like is more common in high school. And your grades are based on a few exams that you have to invest more time in studying for. Things also move faster. In college your might have 4 classes per semester, compared to 7 or 8 in high school, but what you would take a year to learn in high school occurs in 1 college semester.</p>
<p>[How</a> Is College Different From High School? - - SMU](<a href=“http://smu.edu/alec/transition.asp]How”>http://smu.edu/alec/transition.asp)</p>
<p>The biggest difference is that now the responsibility to learn the material is all on you.</p>
<p>The professor’s responsibility is to expose you to the material…it is up to you to learn it. If you have any difficulty learning/understanding the material, it is on you to get the help you need to master it, whether it is going to additional source materials, going to help sessions, going to office hours with the professor or TA, getting a tutor…</p>
<p>Another obvious difference is the grading. Poor performance on exams or less than optimal grades on the papers or projects can’t be padded with points on things like doing your homework, notebook checks, extra credit etc. Most classes have only 2-5 grading opportunities.</p>
<p>Perhaps the greatest difference is the fact that students are responsible for completing the syllabus on their own. Many students are surprised when exam questions cover material that was never presented in lecture…</p>
<p>In college, it is assumed that you can read. So many times, the readings assigned in the syllabus are never gone over in class. Sometimes the professor will reference them; many times she won’t. She may use them as a jumping off point, or to compare and contrast to what she is presenting in lecture–or not. But if a reading was on the syllabus, it is fair game for the exam. So if you don’t understand the material in the reading–it’s on you to get the help you need.</p>
<p>Exams may also be different than what you are used to. Exams no longer test rote memorization of dates in history, for example. You might instead be asked what might have been different had another political player been in power, or what different politicians might have done in a certain set of factual circumstances, etc. You would be expected to back up your answers with references from the various sources covered both in class and in the assigned readings.</p>
<p>Or high school can be twice as fast… Because on a quarter system, an AP can be covered in 1-2 quarters–AP US History counts for a course on Pre-Civil War US and a course of Post-Civil War in two quarters of high school. AP Physics C counts for a semester of Mech and a semester of E/M (or the B exam alone counts for both algebra based physics classes)… Given that most APs at my school give you 6 or more units, if you abuse the heck out of a quarter system to give you a ton you’ll be far ahead of the game coming in.</p>