Adjusting to college life

When students are still in high school, college looms in the distance like an ominous cloud. Frankly, all of the students are scared about going to college. When students go to college they feel like going to the great unknown – to go to a place where they don’t know anyone. But after all college is not that bad. First of all, the adjustment to college isn’t that rough. The staff and students are trained to make the adjustment as easy as possible, and the other students they meet are just as nervous as they are. Their new fellow classmates are just as anxious as you to meet people, so as long as you make the effort, you’ll be surprised as to how many people you meet. Meeting people will not be that hard, since most colleges offer a bazillion a lot social events at the beginning of the year. And the friends that students do meet in college you will be surprised as to how close students become to each other. This is mostly due to the fact that they live about twenty feet from them or even closer. Just think how much closer students would be to their friends in school if, to visit them, you just had to walk down the hall at midnight about three doors and walk into their friends bedroom. And you can never hide anything, because the student bedroom could end up becoming the floor social lounge and your bed could end up being the common couch. Basically, college classes are not much more difficult than high school classes. The only major difference is that much of the work for classes is done out of the classroom. In college, classes are usually twelve hours per week and dispersed over three or four days of the week. If you keep up with your work, then students should have no problem getting a B or an A. Many students worry about financial aid. Do not apply to a school because you don’t think that you can’t afford it. The people at college are trying to help you, and financial aid is one way that they do that. If you don’t get enough money from a school, call them and tell them your situation. In most cases things can be worked out. College is also great because it lets you be ourselves. To be perfectly honest, people at college can be a bit odd, and the diversity of college life allows you to express yourself the way that you really want. This can be a great way for people to find out who they really are in an environment that encourages people’s beliefs, religions, values and life styles. College life is our first taste of pure freedom. You have no curfews, no parents and no teachers to yell at you to go to class. The one thing that students need to do is learn to balance that newfound freedom with the wisdom to not go nuts. Be careful with what you experiment and learn to balance your studying and your socializing. It’s really easy to keep putting that 16 page paper off in order to go out with your friends, but you will find yourself up until 3am hitting yourself because you still haven’t collected any information yet. Your years of higher education can be the best time of our life if we only make the most of it. Don’t get stressed out now, just because you are worried about financial aid and college applications. Things have a way of working out in the end. One important thing is to become close friends of our guidance counselors, because they are an invaluable tool at our disposition.