College

[Chihiro99]

I'm going to college next year and I am wondering if it is super hard. Some people say it's easy others say it's hard. Will I have time to do other things or will I be studying night and day. Please let me know, I'm really nervous.

 

[Matt.9:22]

The difficulty of college depends on the student. If you're a procrastinator or really unorganized, you'll get frustrated because you'll always be stressed and people will chew you out when you don't pull your weight. If you go in with your plans and goals already set, organized, attentive and determined to learn you should be alright. You don't have to study day in night if you follow your syllabus and pace yourself, studying a little everynight instead of waiting til a couple of days before a big exam. There are always opportunities to socialize and party, it'll be up to you to prioritize and decide when to say I need to study. I've been having a lot of fun and enjoying ourselves. I'm socially active but I also have a 4.0. The secret is learning to balance.

 

[Dak man]

Learning styles is another thing to think about, along with your Major. Im double majoring in History and Political Science so my classes are more about understanding society, how it works, and how it got there which is right up my alley as far as interests go. In HS normally you have to do homework nightly and have atleast a test every week. But in college (for me atleast) there is virtually no homework, and very few tests, so you need to be very prepared for those. For some people this works better, but for others it doesnt. The biggest piece of advice for doing well that I will give, is go to class EVERY day. It may sound obvious, but once people get away from home allot that I know just sleep in and go into panic mode when exams roll around when if they went to class they would really understand the subject matter and the teachers style.

 

[sweetlambofgod]

depends what your taking but I dont think any college courses are easy. I wouldnt count on a lot of free time.

 

[Nessie]

I'll be going to Whitworth (hopefully) next year to get a double major in Sociology and Religion.

I would think it would be more interesting because you get to pick what classes you take, vs. high school where you have almost all of your classes planned for you minus electives.

I do know that AP classes are a lot like college classes and there is signicantly more work in those classes than in regular classes.

 

[squeakyclean1]

Like other people said, stay on top of things and it won't be bad. I don't study night and day, but enough, and i have a 4.0. Usually gen-ed courses aren't as hard or require as much work (im not saying they are ALL like that tho...some are harder). And if you are taking classes in your field of study, you'll want to do well, and you'll enjoy them. Don't worry, there's always plenty of time for socializing, which is almost as important as your studies.

 

[waterbear]

College isn't that hard usually - a lot of what happens is that students got used to using their parents as the discipline enforcer during highschool then move out for college. Without an adult acting to reinforce guilt or discipline students often go wild their first year or two. If you can find an older responsible person to room with (a junior or senior) it'd probably help combat this phenomena since it (for me) is partially subconcious.

Some of the actually time-intensive majors (even with good study habits) are anything engineering and anything pre-med. Engineering has time-consuming homework projects, pre-meds have lab work and lots of exam studying (exam studying is especially important for pre-meds since classes are usually graded on a curve and most pre-meds will not get into med-school).

 

[born2run]

The hardest thing for me to do was (at first) figure out how to organize my time. It helped for me to prioritize my classes, and focus more on the ones that I was having a tough time catching the material in. One thing I can't stress enough is this: "Don't" put off studying until the night before exams, then cram. I've observed this, and did it myself. It's stressful, and I don't think that I at least absorb a lot in the last 24 hours of horror! I work sometimes 30 hours a week, from 7:30-2:00 AM. So I have to figure in time for naps too, or I'll go under.

 

[ICE_girl]

The most difficult thing about college for me is not having someone there to say hey, you have to go do this, or that... BUT that's something you are thrown into dealing with and being responsible for on your own. The difficulty of classes depends on the class, the teacher and how you are in that particular subject. Most classes are pretty easy for me. Generally speaking, professors don't give work outside of class, unless it is reading something for class or studying for a test. Some teachers do though, but most work done outside of class is studying. Depending on how much time you need to study, will regulate the amount of time you have to do other things. I'm bad about procrastinating, so I'm one of the ones that gets frusterated with studying, but not everyone is like that... and I'm getting better at it. I have to study more now that im in college. I never had to study in high school. Seriously though, college life isn't bad! it is what you make it. YES- take time to study, so you do well in your classes, but also take some time out for you or you will get burnt out very quickly!!!

 

[MetalBlade]

You will be nervous, but dont worry its not extremely hard. It is hard to a certain extent, but for the most part it isn't bad. You will be nervous, and it will be a drastic change. It's not like high school at all. First of all most profs have like two tests and that is all you are graded on. It just depends on the profs standing. If you are good at the class then you might not need to study a lot. But if the class is hard then you might be studying, and yes I have studyed day in and day out sometimes.

Rule of thumb is that for ever hour you are in school you must study two/three hours out of school. So if you are taking 12 credit hours then you should be studying at least 24+hours a week.

 

[born2run]

[QUOTE/]Rule of thumb is that for ever hour you are in school you must study two/three hours out of school. So if you are taking 12 credit hours then you should be studying at least 24+hours a week.[/QUOTE]

What does that figure up to with 19 credits? No wonder I'm always tired!

 

[PaladinValer]

Take your number of c.h. Multiply that by at least 2, if not 3. There's your minimum.