what should I do/ expect before I start college?

[timonny]

I'm a senior in high school I start college this september. I know college will be totally different from high school; I was just wondering what I should do to be a better student and what should I expect. Should I improve my writing skills, reading skills, should I start being more mature now? Is there a much larger work load?

***I only want answers from people who have experienced college.

[Star]

I think it really depends on what college you are going to attend and what kind of high school you went to. If you went to a high school with little to no homework, going to a college with a heavy work load might feel like a big jump. My high school assigned a lot of work, and my college does as well.. maybe a little bit more, so it wasn't too different for me. But each school is different.

If you know which school you are going to attend, maybe there is a facebook group or something for incoming students or for current students and you could ask around and see how your school's work load is in the eyes of the current students. I know one was started for my school. However, any college that accepts you thinks you will do well at their school, or else they would not have accepted you, so I wouldn't worry too much.

If there is something you feel like you are currently struggling in that you know you'll need at your future school, nothing bad about getting a little bit of practice beforehand. I didn't really practice anything before. My professors taught me what I needed to know and friends help each other out when people don't understand concepts and stuff like that.

I'd suggest making friends with people in your classes when you get there and know where places are to find extra help. Comes in handy. Staying on top of your work is a big thing, and as long as you do that and put in the effort, you'll do well. Just go in knowing what your priorities are and have an idea of how you want to manage your time (you don't want to be working ALL the time, but you don't want to procrastinate and party every night either).

[Laura & Ken]

The work is going to be all relative, you may have gone to an "easy/hard" high school and are now going to an "easy/hard" college. College isn't an unreal amount of work unless they advertised that beforehand, you caring about being prepared is a good sign but you can relax. Be yourself, "mature" is a myth. Enjoy and take advantage of the connections there, you'll be graduating before you know it!

[irving snotpocket]

It sounds like you already know your weaknesses (writing skills/spelling). Yes, start acting like an adult. Yes, the work load is harder, but different. The biggest three most significant skills to work on?

1) Written communication (yours isn't bad, but you need work)
2) Time management: you will be bombarded with ways to spend your freedom and time, choose wisely
3) Note-taking skills (get a Smart Pen)

[Frank]

Learn to do laundry. Learn to food shop.

Have some alcohol so that you what it's like and won't be curious at a frat party, where there may be predators waiting for you to get drunk.

Buy yourself a paper calendar, and plan to mark it with due dates of major projects. Seriously. Even if you use an electronic calendar for your appointments.

Whether college has a higher work load depends on how much of a load you took on during high school.

You will not have teachers watching you as closely. You'll be responsible for working on the midterm paper that is due at the midterm, and your professor might not remind you that you should be working on it.

High school was about teaching you to read and write and think. There is not much you can do this summer to make up for what you may have missed in the past four years.