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The Transition

College is tough, a lot tougher than high school. The class sizes are way bigger, the homework load is way more, and you have to take responsibility for yourself. Those are arguably the three largest differences between being in high school and in college. However, some people thrive in the college environment. All of these people have figured out the keys to being successful under these college circumstances. I am here to share a few of these with you.

According to the New York Times, the average classroom size in the United States is 24.3 students. Now this is an average of classroom sizes ranging from 18 in the smallest ones and 35 in the largest. 35 people in one high school classroom felt jam-packed and stressful enough, once i got into college i found myself in classes as large as 300 students. Talk about jam packed. With so many students, you find it a lot tougher to focus and grasp the topics. I struggled with these large classes at first but then i soon realized that if i ask questions regularly, never skip, and come to class with the mindset that i am going to learn something new, the topics began to stick.

The homework load is another huge difference between the two. According to the University of Nevada, a student in college needs to study at least two to three hours outside of class for every hour in class. Thats a lot of studying. In college you spend far less time in class and far more time doing homework and studying outside of class. It can be very hard to manage that needed study time along with everything else a college student has to deal with. My tip to handling this stressor begins inside the classroom. Take good notes. That is it. Take thorough, effective, easy to understand (for you) notes and that will make study time a lot quicker and more efficient.

College is really the first experience most of us have in the "Adult World", even though we aren't quite there yet. In high school, most of your time is manage for you; either by your parents, teachers, councilors, etc. Once you get into college you are responsible for your time. You make the choice between Call of Duty and your essay that's due. You are responsible for finding help if you're struggling with your classes. Oregon State is a wonderful college, they have all the resources that we could ever need. However, it is up to ourselves to find these resources and take advantage of them. You are responsible for keeping yourself on track to graduate. In high school you had to do virtually nothing to stay on course for graduation. In college, you are paying for every class so you better make sure they're necessary for your major, other wise it's wasted money. There is not so much a tip for this one. I still haven't quite figured this one out myself honestly, but i know that it will come with time.

I have only been an "adult" now for about 7 months. I have a lot of learning to do and I know all of the rest of you guys do too, regardless of age. College is just a new step in our lives and it's something that takes getting used to. Use these tips, and hopefully success will find it's way to you.