By J.D. Eddy, Editorial Editor
In high school, were you ever told, “It won’t be this easy in college?” When you eventually get to your dorm freshman year, it seems like the easiest thing in the world. But then you hit that three-week mark in the semester and realize you forgot to turn in a paper that was due at eleven the night before. At this point, you’re stressing, thinking: “Oh no, what am I going to do?” You think back to your teacher saying those words in high school, those nightmarish words.
You think the teacher is right when in reality, the teacher never did explain to you what college courses are like; you don’t get a daily reminder to turn in your assignments. You are adults who have to be responsible for waking yourself up, keeping track of your assignments, studying during the free time you have and also making sure you do your laundry.
That doesn’t sound like a lot to the average college student, but the average college student is directly out of high school in today’s age. With little to no experience in these aspects yet, it feels like a ton.
Movies about colleges always depict it as this non-stop four-year party. The main characters can avoid doing all their homework and be perfectly fine, but that is not the case in real life. You must keep up with classwork; this costs money!
The point is that you are not prepared for the course load that you will be taking on.
High school does not do enough to prepare you; people from high levels of public school leadership just tell you it’s a lot of work without giving examples. Most people need a basis of what things will be like to prepare. You can’t be sent off on your own and just wing it. Well, I can’t anyway. I can’t speak for everyone else.
Concurrent enrollment is great, but students should also take a class to prepare them for college life and work.
This could be a seminar to explain what the average class schedule will be like, not from an administrator, but from a student who goes to a college. This can give you insight into what college life is about and the changes you can expect.
Having this little bit of knowledge beforehand will make a major difference. I wish that I had this growing up. I got lazy during my freshman year and didn’t keep up with my coursework.
Up until my senior year, I was still feeling the ill effects of this decision. It is hard to keep yourself motivated without someone consistently saying, “Don’t forget your paper is due Friday.”
The stress levels are lower at a smaller college like Northwestern. You can ask your professors questions after class without scheduling an appointment. This is because of the decreased class size, but the workload is not less.
No matter what college you attend now or will attend in the future, it can all seem different depending on where you are. I was at SNU before this (boooo!) and the class load was too much.
The professors just kind of let you flop around. They will help but only if you pester them enough.
That was off-topic, but you should be prepared more by the high schools that you attend.
Sure, posting this in a college newspaper might not change anything, but it’s better to get the word out there instead of leaving it bottled up.
Just trying to get a few things to prepare high school kids better can bring legitimacy to high schools, while also making participating colleges seem more caring.
Everyone would benefit from this type of cooperation.