Mikayla Jankowski compares the college experience (left) with the high school experience (right).
There are many differences between high school and college classes, but the main difference is your ability to choose what is best for you. College is a time for you to grow and learn about yourself through its flexibility.
Hours of school
In high school, classes generally run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. In college, the awesome thing is you get to pick your schedule. If you are a morning person, you can have your classes done before noon. I have an 8 a.m. class this semester, and if I can help it, I am not going to have one again. I commute about a half-hour every day to class, so I do not want to wake up that early anymore. But some people like that, so it is great to have that flexibility.
In the classroom
While in high school, most students had the same core classes every day for a whole year. That is not the case in college. Most of the time you have a class two to three times a week, for about an hour and this really speeds up the pace. There are no study halls in college and every day there is a lecture or group discussion. In high school, some days were planned for students to work on a project or homework, and now that all has to be done outside of the class. So instead of spending a full day in the classroom, in college you may only be in the classroom a couple of hours, but you have to spend more of your time out of class working on homework.
Activities and groups
The groups that you could become a part of in college are not like the groups in high school. These groups usually meet in the evening, instead of meeting during your homeroom or extra time during the day like in high school. Also, the groups on campus are led more by students, than advisers. This helps students become leaders in what they know and the advisers are there for support.
High school and college are different in many ways, but this helps us grow. We are not going to have the same environments in our lives forever. High school guided you toward decisions, whereas college gives you the independence to choose what is best for you.
Mikayla Jankowski is a business administration major and communication minor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
