How did you do in high school vs college?

I probably did about the same in terms of grades in high school versus university. I did enjoy university a lot more, though, whereas I disliked high school. Like some other posters, that is probably because in high school I was bored and didn't have to try, whereas in university I had to work and study to do well. I also had to take more unwanted classes in high school.

You'll still have to deal with assignments and stuff like that. I don't know what you plan to study, but I finished electrical engineering. Classes typically had a weekly assignment, sometimes a weekly lab depending on the class, and usually just a midterm and a final for exams; sometimes there were two midterms in a few classes.

I didn't have to write any papers in my engineering courses, but I took several history electives for my arts options and wrote a few papers there. We had to pick something relevant to the class, of course, but there were so many possibilities that it wasn't much of a restriction. For instance, in one history class I wrote a paper on Beowulf; it was on a list of approved topics, but the list was something like six pages of topics, and even if you couldn't find one you wanted in all that, the professor said that if you wanted to write about something else, you could talk to him about it, and as long as it was related to the course and of appropriate difficulty, he'd allow it. In 'history of technology' I wrote a paper on the history of the transistor. (makes sense for an electrical engineer, no? ) I can't remember if we had a list of topics or if I picked that one myself, but it was probably similar to the other class; list of preapproved topics, but any reasonable, course-related topic would be allowed if approved first.

Well I never done well in high school. Could not be bothered with it. I left at the age of 16, went to college though when I hit my early 20's, and learned a hell of alot more than I did when I was at school.

As far as Im concerned, once you leave school if you dont have a job or a a apprentice, then go to college, but if you do. Leave it for a couple of years, then go to college. They say the older you are the wiser you are.

reply to post by mossme89


I did pretty much the same although there is much more work in college, several hours a day vs. nothing in highschool.

In the beginning, if you have flexibility, take as many classes you can that really interest you rather than trying to get all of the required courses out of the way first. It is a different method of study and you will learn that easier with topics you enjoy. There is nothing wrong with taking a 100 level, required class when you're a senior if you can and are a far superior student. Besides, you'll get to hang with all the freshman girls/guys.

Talk to folks who have had the same class and same professor prior to you. Get a sense of how they test. Don't rely on it 100%, but having a few people tell you how to be successful in a given class is helpful. Grading in college is far more subjective in many cases and getting a feel for what the person is looking for is important.

Good luck. Take things your interested in. Take some things you don't know much about. Talk to folks - the quality of the instruction is what makes a great class and sign up for the professors with the best reputations from students regardless of how difficult they test/grade.

reply to post by mossme89


I got very good grades in HS (4.0 avg), but my issue was unexcused absenteeism. I skipped out a lot, but not enough to threaten my records or graduation or anything. But I did it because I was BORED. Extremely bored. For all the reasons you listed. The pace of the classes moved at the ability level of the slowest to learn. So much of it seemed like a waste of time. I couldn't wait for college. And I was pleasantly surprised that college was different. I went straight to a 4-year college, but I did take a few classes here and there over the years at community college, and I found those classes to be just as challenging. Just because they were community college, didn't mean they were easy. The pace of the classes were set by the professor's expectations, and if you didn't meet them, it reflected in your grades. There were some classes I admittedly dropped because they were going to be too challenging for me, and I didn't want to mess up my GPA. But yes, college was a lot better at holding my attention and challenging me than HS was. There is hope.

I didn't even go to highschool. But I found university no big challenge. I went to uni in Australia, and most people in my classes said that highschool was actually more challenging, and that the first year of university was more difficult than second year. This I can actually agree with, I found that the work got easier the more I progressed in the course. I guess it's so the universities don't have to waste time and resources on people who won't perform to high standards.

I would imagine most people do better in university/college than highschool, because instead of the mind numbing and tedious hours of learning about things you don't care about it, university caters for your choices and is a lot more flexible. Well at least from my experience it is.

reply to post by mossme89

Never went to college and failed at high school. But then again schooling was always getting in the way of my education. And so to each there own.

What I think is eventually we will have to get rid of this thing as well, in the future when we start putting chips in human brains/ assimilation more to technology, all the info that you learn to memorize in high school and college will be accessed as fast as being able to access it, so it will save a lot of time and effort on the whole thing.

As it is right now that's what a lot of education comes down to just memorizing supposed facts, and regurgitating them. So pretty much thousands of textbooks that would take you all years an years to get to know and be familiar with will be able to be downloaded in minutes, sure it will be automatic, and not really learning. But nothing really is, and there will be little difference other then the speed between that and actually doing it in the primitive way were doing it now.

Hopefully it will cut out some of the noise going on in this world, once everything is known faster you will all see that there really is nothing new under the sun, and words and communication is really overrated, yup the beginning stages of telepathic communication is knowing that there really is nothing worth saying, and knowing what they will all say ahead of time. Kind of like a group mind that the grays have, or even a very primitive akashic record type of access to a way more limited sea of data and info.

And once there is nothing left to say, then we can begin to move beyond this world and existence, but for now let the talking and talking heads resume.