As you approach your graduation, college can seem like this big hulking monster, waiting to pounce and destroy whatever grade point average you had entering it. College can be seen in two ways: it can be simply an extended version of high school, or it can be seen as something much more. 

In some ways college is loads easier than high school. Here you don't have to go to class every day from 8:30 to 3:30, because your classes aren't held every day. With a looser class schedule, you have a lot more time to hang out with friends, have fun, and of course, do your homework. Yes, it's true, you do get homework in college, although often times it's not much different than what you would get in high school, such as "read page 235 through 245 and complete problems 1 through 23," etc. 

Depending on the type of classes you take, however, class work can get tougher. If you take a class with a lot of reading or writing requirements, you may find yourself writing more papers and reading more than you are used to. There is a reason that college isn't called "post-high school"; it is higher up on the hardness scale than what you've come from. Probably the hardest thing to do is to be motivated. Professors in college aren't going to check up on you to see if you've done your work. Once they've given an assignment, they are counting on you to be motivated to do it, and if you procrastinate and don't do it, they will have nothing to give you but a zero. 

That's the big thing about college; it's preparing you for the real world, where you take responsibilities for your own actions. Nobody's going to be looking over your shoulder, hassling you to get your homework done. (Okay, maybe some of your friends might get on your case about doing an assignment, but don't count on it!) All your choices are your own, and you have to be the one to decide them.

College is the most exciting time in your life and a time of choices. You get to choose which way you want to go with your education, which major you want, which classes you take. Where high school was often just something to get through, with people constantly telling you where to go and what to do, college is something you should savor and enjoy. At no other time in your life will you have the freedom to do exactly what YOU want to do. You have the option of making your college career just another high school, or you can make it a place where you can discover your own vision of the future. Sure, it can seem scary, with the prospect of trying to decide your whole life flashing before your eyes, but don't worry--that's why you have four years or even more. No one can force you to do anything; it's your life--choose how you live it.

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 7/2/09