The High School to College Transition: Keys to Success

High School versus College: Transitioning to Higher Education [Selected Student Comments, Spring 2008]

READING, WRITING, & ATTENDANCE

1)The reason reading is difficult is because I’ve never really had to read much for history, maybe like 5 pages or 10 a week.

2)I never really read a lot in high school history classes, and if we did all basically was class reading…At first the quizzes were really hard for me to adjust to, but it came quick enough. I just realized that I was not going to be able to pass them if I was not doing the reading like I did in high school.

3)The most difficult thing I will adjust and have adjusted to is being assigned text book reading every class session along with good note taking because when I was in high school I could not really pay attention. And still cram and pass. We weren’t assigned much if any textbook reading, or note taking on our own.

4)In high school if I didn’t read it was fine because my teachers, on day the reading was due would have overhead notes and a lecture over what we were supposed to read. You didn’t even have to listen because nothing came of it. There were no pop quizzes and no tests that you didn’t have a detailed study guide for. It was basically a “vomit class,” which means I would retain information until the time of the test and then vomit it all back up and leave it there, I never took anything away from it.

5)In high school if we did not understand or even read information it was always spoon-fed to us later. So, there wasn’t much pressure of doing the assigned readings if it was just going to be told to you later.

6)In the past most of the time I got my reading done late or I wouldn’t read it all because it was covered in class. Most of the time I would just read and would forget it the next day and I never took notes over the reading.

7)In almost all of my classes the bad examples were what happened. I always had a multiple choice test. We also never had serious finals. We usually never read out of out books, it was always on the board. We were also given study guides. Cramming for tests was always what I did, and it usually worked.

8)I was one of those students who sort of slacked off on the reading in high school, so for college lately I have been trying to break old habits of reading from my high school days. This task may be difficult since I have been not been doing so much reading for a long time, my ways of putting reading off until the last minute are sort of routine, so the hardest part of the reading would be breaking that old routine.

9)The most difficult thing for me to adjust to simply for the fact that I never really had to read out of the textbook for any of my classes in high school.

10)The reading was the most difficult for me to adjust to. Coming from a background where daily history readings were unheard of this came as a big change for me. It took me the better part (sadly) of last semester to realize how important these daily readings were to my success in the course and to my understanding of the material as a whole.

11)Keeping up with the reading & doing regular note taking is a way to help actually learn—instead of just cramming for a test. If you’re paying 300 dollars for each class you should be concerned with actually learning something from it.

12)At first I was extremely overwhelmed with the amount of reading that was given in college. It is ten fold that of what was assigned during high school. I have been getting better at it though, this if by far my best year at being caught up with the readings. By actually reading, I have been able to participate in discussions more, and I also don’t seem as lost when I begin to study for exams.

13)I took your AMW class last semester and quickly found out how important reading and understanding the textbook are. Of course it was a hard transition from my from high school, but once I got into the rhythm of reading and taking notes it became second nature. Reading the textbook isn’t just for exams and quizzes. It also gives you background knowledge and context for the next lecture. Which means if you know what the instructor is talking about, you’ll actually learn something.

14)I didn’t do a whole lot of reading that counted in high school. After reading this section I understand what is expected for myself and what I need to do or keep doing to understand the readings and to be successful in this class and in future classes.

15)There is more reading in college then you think there will be. That was hard to get used to because in high school you don’t have to do all the work or read everything but in college it is important to do everything because the class discussions all tie into what you read and some teachers all you do is read…

16)High school was a joke. If there wasn’t an attendance policy then no students would show up to class until an exam day or the day before. 55 minute classes turn into 30 minute classes when the teacher shows up 5-10 minutes late, then dismisses class 10 minutes early. Though I didn’t care at the time, there was no learning.

17)All throughout high school I skipped class as much as I could, yet still managed to weasel out with good grades simply because they coursework wasn’t difficult. In Ancient Med World with you last semester, I really saw this adversely affect my grade…This semester I knew what to expect; I’ve only missed one class period (due to circumstances outside of my control) and lo and behold I’m receiving a 105% A.

18)I have been missing classes a lot this semester and I can see the big difference in my grade. Another problem is that I do very little outside classes still and the consequences are very upsetting…The hardest thing for me to adjust to when I came to college was the significant increase in the level of writing. English classes in my high school were a joke and I rarely remember even doing even two essays in a year. In my AP English course, we never wrote an essay. Coming to Kirkwood was a big eye-opener….

19)Writing would be the hardest thing that I’ve had to adjust to. Either the high school wasn’t teaching comprehensive writing or I wasn’t paying attention. The only class I remember actually writing in was Comp/LA and it wasn’t much. My first semester here was a big wakeup call. I realized that I need to adapt quick. I’m not even close to college level writing yet, but a few of my classes here are gradually helping me improve.

20)The things that will be the most difficult for me will be the amount of writing that will be done in this class. I am not used to essay writing in a history class and besides just the writing, the writing beyond the meaning, in context will be the hardest part for me. I know with proper studying and practice I should be able to do just fine with this type of adjustment.

EXPECTATIONS, RESPONSIBILITY & ASKING FOR HELP

1)One thing that is very hard for me to adjust to, is asking for help. Right now I feel I’m doing all I can do and I’m just not getting it. I felt “smart” in high school because I was spoon-fed and it’s hard to swallow my pride and ask for help…I expected college to be different from high school, but I wasn’t prepared for it. I thought I could handle the reading assignments and notes, and I have, but in this class specifically it has been harder than I had perceived it would be. Overall I feel I am doing my best but I need to ask for help and use the resources that are available and are there to help me succeed in my studies.

2)College education is supposed to be a step up from high school…I do expect college to be different than high school, I expect there to be a lot more reading and writing, there are no worksheets in college. I also expect the professors to be a lot less lenient.

3)I do expect college to be different from high school in many ways. I hope to get a better education in college and if I didn’t I would be disappointed. If high school wasn’t any different from college, then what is the sense in paying tuition? College should be more academically challenging than high school and more self motivated.

4)College doesn’t feed students “with a teaspoon” like high school, but gives a good “tool kit,” so students can cleverly use it to operate in their jobs and relationships, and to improve their skills more and more. College makes students think and realize for themselves what they want form their lives, how they plan to achieve these goals, how to do it by themselves (without big help and guidance of the parents), and how to make big and small everyday decisions and take responsibilities for their consequences. So each student earlier or later figures out for himself “to read of not to read,” “to attend class or not to,” and “to ask questions or not.”

5)In high school they treat you as a child rather than an adult and by doing this they help to cause the dependency that is prevalent after leaving high school. For me, just to know that my grade and my possibilities are in my hands helps me more than any other piece of advice could hope to help…My education that I acquired in high school did very little to prepare me for the outside world, it only prepared me for college (sort of)…In high school they preach continuously about being adult and being independent, even though they help to prevent it accidentally. Every time they have the answers given in study guide form, they one enforce the idea that the student does not have to try. College normally helps students to becoming more independent and mature. If the only way I can prosper is to do things on my own, then I will be more likely to do that.

6)In college, there is a greater level of accountability. You have to do the homework and know your stuff. There’s no procrastinating. My parents have invested a lot in my education and I don’t want to waste their money nor do I want to work at McDonalds the rest of my life.

7)I do expect college to be different from high school. I feel that the work will be significantly more difficult. In high school, students are spoon fed. Now in college, we have to learn it ourselves. That makes the transition as well as the college experience more difficult.

8)This packet also helps me to understand how college works. They treat us more like adults then something that needs to just get input. This is hard for me to understand, being a freshman in college, but I hope to do better as I read this, and your online guides, so that I may be a better listener, writer, note taker (or maker), and an adult. Almost all of college is hard for me to adjust to.

9)High school was okay. I really didn’t take it too seriously because I didn’t have to pay for it. Now that I am paying for college myself, with no help from my parents, I am more apt to work harder and study, and come to class because I don’t want my money wasted… For the first time, I feel in control of my education. I am not going to waste that opportunity, or my money by screwing around. Screwing around doesn’t get you anywhere nice.

10)I don’t believe I was prepared as much as should have been to attend college. In high school it was easy to get by with minimal effort and minimal work to do decent, to get by. And it has been hard to get out of the habit of just going to class and do nothing else…I’ve always known that college is going to be different than high school and expectations were going to be higher. That I would be made more accountable than I was in high school.

11)College is a choice, which differentiates it from the assembly-line high school is. In college the harder you try, the better you’ll do, in high school I stole my history books because I enjoyed reading them, I even went to the library & read books for more information on the material. But when all you need is a date & a name how does that help?

12)I did expect college to be very different from high school with regards to a “higher education” and I was not disappointed. It is very reassuring having professors who actually know what they are teaching and have a much better chance of answering my questions. Another big difference is being an adult because that is what many of us are now (some I don’t know about).

13)Kirkwood is better than high school. The classes are harder and go more in depth into subjects. The teachers are less patronizing and the subject matters are fresh and new. College is more grueling in the sense that one has to pay for one’s own textbooks and one must be self-propelling as the professor does not worry about students or mother them along.

14)In high school, all I had to do was basically show up and I’d earn a good grade by talking and explaining my opinion.

15)It is your choice if you want to go to class or not and if you want to do good in your classes. In high school if you didn’t attend school, the school would punish you with detention or in school, but with college it is your choice if you don’t go to class of not because this is your responsibility to want to do well in school. And I think that is what some people have the most trouble with adjusting from high school to college. Because they don’t have someone there to tell them what to do.

16)I expected it to be different I do admit I thought Kirkwood would be a “cake walk.” When I transferred to a university I would have to try. When I thought about college, I thought of the 1:2 ratio. I have been told that for every hour of class you should spend 2 hours on it outside of class. This was different because I did nothing out of high school.

17)I can’t just expect for all the things to just fall into my lap, I will need to work hard and be successful to get there. Getting my bachelors and masters degree will be far more strenuous than that of my high school diploma.

18)Usually, high school teachers would insist on speaking with failing or struggling students and encourage them to get help, study more, or drop this class. However, in college, the professors expect the students to know what they are doing wrong and fix it, because they are adults. A lot of people do misinterpret the professors’ behaviors, and sometimes it is easy to forget that you are supposed to be the responsible one…

19)Of course I expected college would be different than high school because college expects more out of what they consider an adult compared to what teachers in high school though of students as children. College is a huge adjustment for students in making the change to being an adult.

20)The most difficult thing for me to adjust to college from high school was the fact that I was responsible for all my actions. I didn’t have parents making sure I woke up on time and went to class. It made me create a schedule and have good self discipline in order for me to be successful.