Yhtorod Dadzie
Univ-150
16 January 2017
The Transition
The transition from high school to college was an interesting journey for me. In high school I was sheltered a lot and monitored quite closely by my parents. Therefore, I did not go out much, nor did I attempt risky or reckless behavior.
My high school was a military family school. Meaning, many people who attended my high school constantly moved around. I was fortunate enough to had gone to high school in the city that I grew up in; therefore, the few times I went out, I always knew exactly where I was and how to get home in case of emergencies. Being that I was in a high school located in the city where I grew up, I always had friends near me. I had a job that was slightly far from where I lived because I lived in the suburbs. Since I lived in same town for many years; I learned how to get around town using public transportation if needed.
Preparing for college was exciting. Filling out applications, waiting to hear back from schools and receiving an acceptance letter from my top choice school was all an exciting experience. I felt that I was finally making progress with my future. Shopping for my dorm and getting ready for school made me feel as though I was fully prepared for college. Once move in day came around and my family and I did all the family events and they finished helping me get settled in, it was time for them to go and time for me to experience college for myself.
The first weekend was one of the most exhilarating and nerve-wracking experiences I had ever had because for the first time ever, I had total freedom to do exactly what I wanted, when I wanted, where I wanted and stay out as long as please and that is exactly what I did. The nerve-wracking thing about all this freedom was that I was in a whole new location. I knew nothing around me, no one I was with, nor did I know my way around. Knowing all of this caused me to be very attentive of my surroundings. I felt quite uncomfortable here.
once classes began, the classes were surprising but not too surprising. I took IB classes in high school which were just like college classes; in the sense that there was a lot of independent studying and the classes were not memorization based. What really surprised me about college is the lack of assignments I had to do for my classes. I was shocked that I found college to be ten times easier than high school. The only really challenging part of transitioning to the college work load was managing my time and keeping track of my assignments and due dates.
After my first week in college, I realized that college was different from what I expected it to be. I understood the fact that total freedom came with responsibility. I realized that the work was not going to be hard and that the way to be successful is to manage my time and put in more effort into my classes. All together I had learned that college is truly preparation for the real world.