<p>Why is it that high schoolers always seem so stressed about grades, ranks, standardized test scores, etc. when college students seem more concerned about getting drunk over the weekends?</p>
<p>I have a feeling that because HS is so stressful, once people get into college all they want to do is relax and have fun. I have a feeling that if college admissions were less emphasized than grad school admissions, people would work harder in college.</p>
<p>High school is not stressful. Academics in high school are like child's play compared to most college academics. High schoolers like the ones on this forum are concerned with grades, ranks, scores, etc because they care so deeply about where they'll be going to college. Once in college, people forget about all of that crap, and focus on the truly important things.</p>
<p>Trust me though, high school stress is NOT college stress.</p>
<p>Lots of people I've spoken to have said that high school - particularly AP/higher level classes - are much harder than first year college courses.</p>
<p>that is because some first year classes are bogus little time wasters. like my bro had to take a class about like the school's code of conduct. and anyone well prepared in high school will think college is breezy. plus it really depends on the school. some will straight up dump you into the life and the swim begins then. others smooth you into it.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to say that I think high school is actually harder than college in a lot of ways and I think that high school stress is legit. HS is very stressful and the course loads can often times be a lot more overwhelming when compared to college.</p>
<p>High school academics aren't stressful compared to college. It's life in high school that's stressful compared to college. In high school, you have to deal with total jackasses who may treat you like total crap for no reason other than they feel like it. In college, you get to choose who you want to be around for the majority of your time.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Lots of people I've spoken to have said that high school - particularly AP/higher level classes - are much harder than first year college courses.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This can more or less apply to the entire requisites of a major declaration. My political science declaration requirements were a joke, but I took an upper-division course in political theory, and got my ass kicked.</p>
<p>For me, college has been more difficult than high school. Then again, I did go to an underachieving public school, so it's no surprise that it wasn't difficult. I would say that if you went to an extremely competitive public school or some fancy prep school, high school could have been more difficult than college.</p>
<p>Yeah, for me, college isn't that bad compared to Junior year of High school.</p>
<p>Most of my classes are pretty easy, except one English class where the teacher grades really weird and a 3 level math course that I am taking. It all depends on your major/courseload and, to an extent, your school.</p>
<p>High school has nothing on college. Sure, you take more classes but they aren't NEARLY as difficult as college courses. High school grades are based upon a multitude of tests, homework assignments, projects, etc, while many (dare I say most?) college courses are based off 2 midterms, a final, and perhaps projects/labs. Because of this, college students have more time to "slack off" than high school students (there aren't daily, trivial homework assignments to keep you in check), but when it comes time for midterms/finals, everyone is killing themselves trying to cram everything in.</p>
<p>Then again, I'm an engineer so I can't speak for humanities majors.</p>
<p>Humanities can be hard. If you want to be a B student you dont have to do any work and just BS. But if you want to be an A student you have to keep up with 100s of pages of readings, be able to come up with a coherent inclass essay, write really good out of class papers, and have a good handle on theoretical paradigms, their authors and origins, as well as have relevant real-world examples ready.</p>
<p>And then you're tested on it, and you don't know which of the 20-30 authors the teacher decided to make you concentrate on.</p>
<p>I've never been more proud of this one history paper I wrote on FDR - I read literally every major speech he ever gave and used his own quotes to prove my points - and got it back today and it still got torn to shreds (a B+ is torn to shreds for me).</p>
<p>So it can still be painful.</p>
<p>As a politics and history major, I can speak to that too. I decided to take all upper level classes this semester, no general education, so I may have a skewed perspective of the first-year experience. But it's hard work- far more so than anything in high school. I had to read roughly the equivalent of 3 or 4 books every week, as well as writing several short papers. High school work is primarily BS, but this sort of stuff requires a deep understanding.</p>
<p>I agree with one of the other posters who mentioned the social pressures of high school. When you're that age, everything can seem more difficult and there's just drama everywhere. Put that on top of the pressures that come with getting into college and making the grades and test scores, it can be tough. </p>
<p>But once you get to college, the challenges are a much different sort...much more intellectual. I've found that in college I've had to readjust my thinking. So much is dependent on theory and critical analysis and the philosophies of history's greatest thinkers. The classes are a million times more interesting than high school, but they're a lot more work. Not to mention that in college, everything is on you. There're no progress reports, no one to hold your hand to make sure you have to study...you have to be incredibly motivated to make good grades. So in my mind, college is more difficult. I'm a Linguistics/English major and the amount of reading I have to do is intense. I wrote 9 papers just this past quarter. So, it's a lot of work in the Humanities (even though we take a lot of flak from those in the sciences). But college is amazing. I wouldn't go back to high school for anything.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Lots of people I've spoken to have said that high school - particularly AP/higher level classes - are much harder than first year college courses.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Obviously this depends on a lot of things, but one is what you mean by "harder." I found my college workload much easier to deal with (mostly b/c I had tons more free time than in HS...no commuting to school or sports, quit my full-time sport, less hours of class per day, etc.), but the work itself was more difficult. In many cases, it's just an "apples to oranges" sort of issue...high school work and college work were, for me, completely different things, even at two respectable schools.</p>
<p>just because you drink on saturday night doesn't mean you didn't spend from 12 to 6 studying... it happens more than you think.</p>
<p>also in college, if you choose not to do readings, there can be periods of multiple weeks where you don't have anything that is actually due.</p>
<p>I don't know, saying that college students just want to "relax and have fun" is a stretch. A lot of college students work very, very hard, but there's more free time so you're able to focus on other hobbies and interests, and you're also able to spend time doing nothing important, like drinking and playing wii... while drinking!</p>
<p>I think it's also a matter of learning which issues deserve stress and which aren't worth the energy. High school students tend to really worry about things that start to seem kind of petty once you're in college.</p>