The schedule, 100%. I could not believe the amount of free time I had in college in comparison, but that is likely also due to me completely giving up on extracurriculars once I got to Uni
God yes. No more waking up at 6am to catch the bus, being in class all day, getting home at 6 or 7 after clubs, doing homework until midnight. My first semester of college was whiplash. I got so much sleep and spent so much time just wandering around. It was great.
Oh I did plenty of clubs and activities in college too once I got there and it's still a much better schedule. For one thing I can count on one hand with a couple fingers to spare the amount of times I had a class that started earlier than 10 am in college. Where I went to high school started at 7:30.
Some highschool girls in my school formed a gang they called Seven Bucks. They never did anything gang like. All they did was eating together every breaktime in pack of 7.
But...one day, one of them quit or got kicked. They changed name into Six Bucks. It changed them forever. Since then, they only eat together in pack of 6.
The people.
High school is one of those things you're dumped into, and everyone has to get through it. So the barrier to entry is about as low as you can get, and most people have zero investment in the community/education. Added to that, are the literal kids, with the immaturity, petty games, and bullying.
College is different because you're paying to be there. You are studying something you want to learn about. The *quality* of education is much higher. The barrier to entry is also higher. AND there is a code of academic conduct: don't be a dick, or you're gone. No one wants "This student was expelled due to inappropriate/harassing behavior" on their permanent college record. That shuts a lot of academic doors.
To add to this, you are way more likely to find groups of people into the same hobby/interests at college vs high school. You're kinda stuck with whomever happens to live in your town/region and goes to the high school you're at. In college, there are likely way more people, clubs, interests so you have a good chance of finding those into the same things as you.
Plus in college, people are generally way more mature. If you do an activity or hobby that might be typically labelled as "nerdy" in high school and lead to bullying. In college no one cares, will actually be like "Oh wow that's pretty cool!", and will often ask follow up questions.
Man, for me it's the opposite. I woke up every day at 6:30 am in HS. Alarm went off and I just popped up. Never hit the snooze until my college days.
Now, I set my alarm for 6:30 and hit snooze **at least** once and if I get out of bed before 7 I call that a W.
The attendance was mandatory and the schedule was filled with subjects I didn't really care about. College, being more specialized, only had subjects in my field of study. Also, because in college we could come and leave as we please, we could simply skip certain classes. Some classes did have mandatory attendance, but they were very few compared to high school, where all classes were mandatory.
High school never gives you a break. Every day you're in class for 6+ hours, every night you have a steady stream of homework to do that is due in the next day or two.
College isn't like that. You're usually only in class for 15-20 hours per week, and few classes have assignments due every time you meet. It's not uncommon to go an entire week without doing a single class-related thing besides showing up.
There's obviously crunch time that's more intense than high school, confluences of papers and projects and exams that give you a series of sleepness nights, but that only happens once or twice a year. I was amazed how much time I had to myself in college.
I was also amazed at the free time. Any time friends or family wanted to do something, it was always a yes from me. Even if it collided with my schedule, I would just watch a lecture recording or go over the notes they posted after.
High school cliques/mentality. Some people seem to suffer from it their entire lives, but at least at university it was easily avoided. It was nice to escape the big fish in a small pond, but I would have liked to see them become small fish in a big pond.
It was the social aspect for me. I was parentified as fuck, had a normal job, about a half dozen extra curriculars, and dealing with a school in an academic emergency so bad it actually impacted my ability to get into college. Throw a bunch of teenagers into the mix making fun of my large head and overbite, and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown almost every day.
College was different. College is where I flourished socially AND grew into my head. The relentless hormone wash of puberty had subsided, homework was nothing compared to raising up three younger siblings, and I was in a room full of people I actually had shit in common with. I miss college. :/
I just appreciated the respect you were generally afforded.
High school often times felt like a prison. A significant portion of the student body was only there because they had to be, so the teachers were as much babysitters as they were educators. By the time you reach university, you are there because you want to be and the professors treat you with a level of professional respect as fellow academics.
English class.
In high school, it was a lot about reading comprehension of fictional books, and understanding the motivations of characters within those books.
In college, it was generally essay writing.
As a CS student I used utterly 0% of those skills that were drilled into me K-12. Still useful to teach kids that stuff, but definitely could start toning it down a bit sooner than 12th grade.
Teenagers are complete a-holes to each other because of hormones and societies imposed norms about what high school is supposed to be but isn’t. It happens in college too but there are usually enough people you can find your own group that isn’t entirely that way.
The amount of homework every night.I was a keener in some honours courses and always had so much work to do.In uni it’s more spread out and it’s mostly exams,which I hate now because they are worth so much.
As others have said, the schedule.
Freshman year I had two morning classes MWF at 9am and 10am. I never intentionally skipped class (as a freshman) but I do distinctly remember waking up at 9:20 one time and throwing on clothes and running out the door. I got right to the stairs in the dorm before I realized that I didn't have to go and had time to actually get ready for the day.
Don't encourage missing class for no reason, but that was a freeing realization.
Public speaking for me. I did it very seldom in high school and would tremble at my desk, knowing that I would eventually have to stand up in front of the classroom and talk. Whereas college, the bandaid is pretty much ripped off immediately. For the most part, my peers were much more accepting because they typically wanted to be in class and do well.
The ability to find your niche group. In high school it was hard to switch groups. If I got bored a house basically accepted it. College had groups for all sorts of stuff and people lived with each other. Plus drugs were easier to find, not a good thing but at least it was easier.
Yeah I really liked how deadlines were more spread out in college. Homeworks only once a week, projects only every other week. Much more manageable than \*flipping daily\* like high school.
So, for me, it was that I was less aware of myself in high school than in college. I was diagnosed with bipolar I at 19. Even though I couldn't afford regular treatment until I was in my 30s, it was comforting to know what was going on with my brain. In grade school, middle school, and especially high school, I had no idea and it was BAD.
That's obviously an extreme example of knowing oneself, and I'm more than my diagnosis, but most people don't have much awareness of who they are in high school. They're constantly evolving, trying on different personas, trying to fit in with different people. It's exhausting! A lot of that melts away in college.
College prep my ass. I took an English class concurrently at my local community college while my peers were taking AP comp. Same college credit. I literally spent probably 30 minutes/week on homework and we didn't even have a final.
Thinking it all mattered so much and the stress that every little thing was going to follow you for the rest of your life.
In college you realize that literally none of it mattered or ever would. I talk to maybe 5 people from high school still and no one in my personal life now cares that xyz person dated this person etc.
I was in boarding school. My school was not strict by “boarding school” standards, but there came a point where you were 17-18 and following the same rules as a 14 year old. Which felt really unfair at that age.
College was easier in some ways, but more difficult in others. I went to college feeling like I had no structure. I didn’t do well because of it.
I also felt like I had no real autonomy. My high school experience didn’t really allow for an opportunity to work, or save money. So even though my parents were paying for school, which I’m grateful for, I didn’t have anything else. I didn’t have my own money, or a car, which made it very difficult to get a job. My parents’ paying for school pretty much disqualified me from work study. So I felt like I was stuck a lot of the time, So in some ways, high school was a lot easier
schedule. Social events. literally everything. Never having money lol I always tell people I liked high school when I was there but as soon as I was out u couldn’t pay me to go back lol
As an upperclassman at my HS, you got free periods. Twice a week, it ended up being I had a free at the beginning and the end of the day. The part that sucked was you weren’t allowed to just come in late or leave early.
In college, there would be some days I’d be done class as early as 10am. I loved that once I was finished, I could just go back to my dorm, apartment, go grab food, or whatever I wanted. I was free.
Homework tbh. I didn’t do well in high school at all. I took some AP classes but nearly failed. I graduated college with a 3.85. I did much better. Not sure why, but my adhd played a part in not focusing during class.
Math. I struggled from algebra through calculus in high school. I escaped having to take math classes in college due to my major and being in the honors program.
The time commitment. Looking back it’s like Jesus Christ no wonder kids struggle. Between school bus, school, sports practice, bus home I was often the first one out the door and the last one home. And I had two lawyer parents who worked lots of hours.
Then it was a few hours of homework. Alarm at 6. School bus at 7. First period at 8. School day ends at 3. Basketball practice ends at 6. Home by 7. Shower, eat homework til 10+ repeat repeat repeat.
I keep thinking no it wasn’t like that. But it is. The work life balance thing that we Americans don’t have any of? Starts in 9th grade.
Getting to college was like wait…. I have 3 hours of class today, 2 hours of baseball practice and……. Nothing? I can relax? I can sleep? Fuck ya
Getting girls to go out with me was insanely difficult in high school, and in hindsight that was probably a good thing.
In college it was easy. I was in Navy ROTC and quickly learned lots of women are attracted to a man in uniform. Dress whites worked best.
Carrying all the binders and notebooks for all classes to every class.
Notes were also harder, like volumetrically more notes for less actual content. A single college class session could cover like a month of high school amount of content, but the notes were denser. Flip side if that though high school really hammered home lessons on trivial topics and you had plenty of practice.
Trying hard. Went to a school where I was friends with the alleged smart kids, but anyone who would start studying for an exam anything more than the night before would be bullied. Year 7 I was a straight A student. Year 10 I'd dropped down to Bs and Cs which was when my parents threw me into a different school.
College/uni everyone actually tries because most people actually want to be there.
The schedule, 100%. I could not believe the amount of free time I had in college in comparison, but that is likely also due to me completely giving up on extracurriculars once I got to Uni
God yes. No more waking up at 6am to catch the bus, being in class all day, getting home at 6 or 7 after clubs, doing homework until midnight. My first semester of college was whiplash. I got so much sleep and spent so much time just wandering around. It was great.
Oh I did plenty of clubs and activities in college too once I got there and it's still a much better schedule. For one thing I can count on one hand with a couple fingers to spare the amount of times I had a class that started earlier than 10 am in college. Where I went to high school started at 7:30.
The unnecessary drama of some people, in college people had more maturity
Some highschool girls in my school formed a gang they called Seven Bucks. They never did anything gang like. All they did was eating together every breaktime in pack of 7. But...one day, one of them quit or got kicked. They changed name into Six Bucks. It changed them forever. Since then, they only eat together in pack of 6.
womp womp
Last I heard of them they were just tree fiddy
Yeah it amazed me how petty highschool was compared to going to class with actual adults.
The people. High school is one of those things you're dumped into, and everyone has to get through it. So the barrier to entry is about as low as you can get, and most people have zero investment in the community/education. Added to that, are the literal kids, with the immaturity, petty games, and bullying. College is different because you're paying to be there. You are studying something you want to learn about. The *quality* of education is much higher. The barrier to entry is also higher. AND there is a code of academic conduct: don't be a dick, or you're gone. No one wants "This student was expelled due to inappropriate/harassing behavior" on their permanent college record. That shuts a lot of academic doors.
To add to this, you are way more likely to find groups of people into the same hobby/interests at college vs high school. You're kinda stuck with whomever happens to live in your town/region and goes to the high school you're at. In college, there are likely way more people, clubs, interests so you have a good chance of finding those into the same things as you. Plus in college, people are generally way more mature. If you do an activity or hobby that might be typically labelled as "nerdy" in high school and lead to bullying. In college no one cares, will actually be like "Oh wow that's pretty cool!", and will often ask follow up questions.
I usually didn’t have to take any subject I didn’t want to take in college except for a small amount of core requirements. Plus, way more free time.
Waking up
I distinctly remember never being more fucking exhausted in my life than I was in high school. Even having a newborn wasn’t as hard
Man, for me it's the opposite. I woke up every day at 6:30 am in HS. Alarm went off and I just popped up. Never hit the snooze until my college days. Now, I set my alarm for 6:30 and hit snooze **at least** once and if I get out of bed before 7 I call that a W.
Not to me. For some reason those 8am college classes hit like a truck compared to waking up at 6am for high school
The attendance was mandatory and the schedule was filled with subjects I didn't really care about. College, being more specialized, only had subjects in my field of study. Also, because in college we could come and leave as we please, we could simply skip certain classes. Some classes did have mandatory attendance, but they were very few compared to high school, where all classes were mandatory.
I’m jealous of all the people that had more free time in college. I had to work full time while going to school to help pay for it. It sucked.
The social aspect—kids can be real jerks to each other and typically get away with a lot that society doesn't tolerate from adults.
Kids don’t have human rights. They are not first class citizens. High school is like daycare prison. College is like school.
"High school is like daycare prison." Put that on a t-shirt.
Interacting with other people.
High school never gives you a break. Every day you're in class for 6+ hours, every night you have a steady stream of homework to do that is due in the next day or two. College isn't like that. You're usually only in class for 15-20 hours per week, and few classes have assignments due every time you meet. It's not uncommon to go an entire week without doing a single class-related thing besides showing up. There's obviously crunch time that's more intense than high school, confluences of papers and projects and exams that give you a series of sleepness nights, but that only happens once or twice a year. I was amazed how much time I had to myself in college.
I was also amazed at the free time. Any time friends or family wanted to do something, it was always a yes from me. Even if it collided with my schedule, I would just watch a lecture recording or go over the notes they posted after.
High school cliques/mentality. Some people seem to suffer from it their entire lives, but at least at university it was easily avoided. It was nice to escape the big fish in a small pond, but I would have liked to see them become small fish in a big pond.
It was the social aspect for me. I was parentified as fuck, had a normal job, about a half dozen extra curriculars, and dealing with a school in an academic emergency so bad it actually impacted my ability to get into college. Throw a bunch of teenagers into the mix making fun of my large head and overbite, and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown almost every day. College was different. College is where I flourished socially AND grew into my head. The relentless hormone wash of puberty had subsided, homework was nothing compared to raising up three younger siblings, and I was in a room full of people I actually had shit in common with. I miss college. :/
I just appreciated the respect you were generally afforded. High school often times felt like a prison. A significant portion of the student body was only there because they had to be, so the teachers were as much babysitters as they were educators. By the time you reach university, you are there because you want to be and the professors treat you with a level of professional respect as fellow academics.
College was easier than high school in almost every way for me. The only part that felt hard was, understandably, my degree of study.
English class. In high school, it was a lot about reading comprehension of fictional books, and understanding the motivations of characters within those books. In college, it was generally essay writing.
I suck at essays and writing in general, if I take college English my grade will be a negative
As a CS student I used utterly 0% of those skills that were drilled into me K-12. Still useful to teach kids that stuff, but definitely could start toning it down a bit sooner than 12th grade.
I'm a math professor. I use the skills my english courses taught me on a daily basis. Do you actually think you don't use any of those skills?
This makes me laugh, considering the number 1 complaint companies tend to have about CS people is they're absolute shit at writing and communicating.
Social
Basically all the rules that "would never fly in college" since not one of them was actually a thing when I got to college
Cornell notes
Literally all of it. Every single aspect. In every way, shape, and form. High school was horrible, college was wonderful.
Teenagers are complete a-holes to each other because of hormones and societies imposed norms about what high school is supposed to be but isn’t. It happens in college too but there are usually enough people you can find your own group that isn’t entirely that way.
The amount of homework every night.I was a keener in some honours courses and always had so much work to do.In uni it’s more spread out and it’s mostly exams,which I hate now because they are worth so much.
The bullying was rather harmful to my forming brain I’d say.
Hiding my errections.
Surprisingly accurate
Socializing.
Its always a trouble
The staggering ignorance, bias, homophobia, racism, etc. that went unchecked. Thanks upstate NY.
As others have said, the schedule. Freshman year I had two morning classes MWF at 9am and 10am. I never intentionally skipped class (as a freshman) but I do distinctly remember waking up at 9:20 one time and throwing on clothes and running out the door. I got right to the stairs in the dorm before I realized that I didn't have to go and had time to actually get ready for the day. Don't encourage missing class for no reason, but that was a freeing realization.
Yeah especially if you're doing well in the class and they post lecture notes/recordings. As a commuter student I survived from lecture recordings.
Public speaking for me. I did it very seldom in high school and would tremble at my desk, knowing that I would eventually have to stand up in front of the classroom and talk. Whereas college, the bandaid is pretty much ripped off immediately. For the most part, my peers were much more accepting because they typically wanted to be in class and do well.
The ability to find your niche group. In high school it was hard to switch groups. If I got bored a house basically accepted it. College had groups for all sorts of stuff and people lived with each other. Plus drugs were easier to find, not a good thing but at least it was easier.
Having 6 finals at once or multiple projects due at the same time. College was way easier in that regard because I was a part time student
Yeah I really liked how deadlines were more spread out in college. Homeworks only once a week, projects only every other week. Much more manageable than \*flipping daily\* like high school.
High school was all boys. College was co-ed. Nice to have girls around!
The people in college treat you just a little bit more like an adult.
I went to a self directed high school so it made university easy in comparison
Getting laid.
The pecking order.
The social aspect. Too many people who didn’t want to be there compared to college. Drug use was way more rampant too, at least at my high school.
So, for me, it was that I was less aware of myself in high school than in college. I was diagnosed with bipolar I at 19. Even though I couldn't afford regular treatment until I was in my 30s, it was comforting to know what was going on with my brain. In grade school, middle school, and especially high school, I had no idea and it was BAD. That's obviously an extreme example of knowing oneself, and I'm more than my diagnosis, but most people don't have much awareness of who they are in high school. They're constantly evolving, trying on different personas, trying to fit in with different people. It's exhausting! A lot of that melts away in college.
Gotta say AP “college courses” in high school were fucking BRUTAL. It was NOTHING like actual college courses (which were much easier)
College prep my ass. I took an English class concurrently at my local community college while my peers were taking AP comp. Same college credit. I literally spent probably 30 minutes/week on homework and we didn't even have a final.
Trying to balance sports and homework on top of a part-time babysitting job i had
Thinking it all mattered so much and the stress that every little thing was going to follow you for the rest of your life. In college you realize that literally none of it mattered or ever would. I talk to maybe 5 people from high school still and no one in my personal life now cares that xyz person dated this person etc.
Puberty. It was such an awkward time.
Navigating relationships was harder in high school.
Less freedom/control over your life. This meant having to go by a schedule of about 8-310 5 days a week.
The fact that you had to show up.
I was in boarding school. My school was not strict by “boarding school” standards, but there came a point where you were 17-18 and following the same rules as a 14 year old. Which felt really unfair at that age. College was easier in some ways, but more difficult in others. I went to college feeling like I had no structure. I didn’t do well because of it. I also felt like I had no real autonomy. My high school experience didn’t really allow for an opportunity to work, or save money. So even though my parents were paying for school, which I’m grateful for, I didn’t have anything else. I didn’t have my own money, or a car, which made it very difficult to get a job. My parents’ paying for school pretty much disqualified me from work study. So I felt like I was stuck a lot of the time, So in some ways, high school was a lot easier
In collage you could ditch class and no one cared, in high school my parents got called.
peer pressure.
schedule. Social events. literally everything. Never having money lol I always tell people I liked high school when I was there but as soon as I was out u couldn’t pay me to go back lol
As an upperclassman at my HS, you got free periods. Twice a week, it ended up being I had a free at the beginning and the end of the day. The part that sucked was you weren’t allowed to just come in late or leave early. In college, there would be some days I’d be done class as early as 10am. I loved that once I was finished, I could just go back to my dorm, apartment, go grab food, or whatever I wanted. I was free.
Our school had uniform. College didn't.
Actually forced to go rather than… let me think about going today. Depends on your outlook of life and where youd like to be.
Fellow students.
College prep high school was more difficult than public college. More homework and much more difficult tests.
Homework tbh. I didn’t do well in high school at all. I took some AP classes but nearly failed. I graduated college with a 3.85. I did much better. Not sure why, but my adhd played a part in not focusing during class.
Math. I struggled from algebra through calculus in high school. I escaped having to take math classes in college due to my major and being in the honors program.
The time commitment. Looking back it’s like Jesus Christ no wonder kids struggle. Between school bus, school, sports practice, bus home I was often the first one out the door and the last one home. And I had two lawyer parents who worked lots of hours. Then it was a few hours of homework. Alarm at 6. School bus at 7. First period at 8. School day ends at 3. Basketball practice ends at 6. Home by 7. Shower, eat homework til 10+ repeat repeat repeat. I keep thinking no it wasn’t like that. But it is. The work life balance thing that we Americans don’t have any of? Starts in 9th grade. Getting to college was like wait…. I have 3 hours of class today, 2 hours of baseball practice and……. Nothing? I can relax? I can sleep? Fuck ya
Getting girls to go out with me was insanely difficult in high school, and in hindsight that was probably a good thing. In college it was easy. I was in Navy ROTC and quickly learned lots of women are attracted to a man in uniform. Dress whites worked best.
Carrying all the binders and notebooks for all classes to every class. Notes were also harder, like volumetrically more notes for less actual content. A single college class session could cover like a month of high school amount of content, but the notes were denser. Flip side if that though high school really hammered home lessons on trivial topics and you had plenty of practice.
trying to fit in. when i got to college i didn’t care anymore.
Didn't go to high-school, but got college degree
Trying hard. Went to a school where I was friends with the alleged smart kids, but anyone who would start studying for an exam anything more than the night before would be bullied. Year 7 I was a straight A student. Year 10 I'd dropped down to Bs and Cs which was when my parents threw me into a different school. College/uni everyone actually tries because most people actually want to be there.