What Will My College Classes Be Like?

Each class and professor in college will differ just as each class and teacher in your high school are vastly different from one another. In general, though, you may be wondering how college classes compare to the classes you are taking in high school….so here’s a rundown:

• They are WAY harder.

• Just kidding. Here’s the good news: many of the courses you will take are related to your interests or your declared major, so it’s quite likely (let’s hope so!) that you will find yourself really interested in what you’re learning. Being fully engaged in the subject matter always makes the process much easier, not to mention fun! In this way, you should find many college courses even easier than those you were required to take in high school.

• Now here’s the hard part: your learning is up to you. Let me repeat. Your learning is UP TO YOU. You are responsible for showing up, taking notes, studying, and, quite frankly, caring about your own education. No one is going to send notes home to your parents or call them up because you didn’t show up to class. If you’re falling asleep in your seat, not turning your papers in, and cramming for exams after not reading a page in weeks, the results will be handed to you as you earned them.

• Class size can vary from sitting around a conference room table with a handful of students to sitting side-by-side with hundreds of other people in a lecture hall where the professor is lucky to ever learn your name. You need to adjust to the circumstances that exist within each particular class.

• You’ll arrange your own schedule and you’ll be responsible for keeping up with it. Your classes will only last for a quarter or a semester unlike full academic year-long courses that exist in high school. That’s actually good news in the cases where you’re required to take a class that you’re not entirely enthusiastic about.

• In most college courses your grades are based on only a few, important factors: exams, projects and/or papers. Calls to "pass in your homework” and small opportunities to build up your grade are uncommon. Again, it will be up to you to focus on note-taking, extensive reading assignments, and research.

If you are prepared to take on the responsibilities of your higher education (remember, college isn’t mandatory – you’ve chosen it), you have little to worry about when it comes to college classes. You’ve proven your academic ability in the past and you’re now taking classes that will earn you a degree in a field you enjoy, like information technology... accounting...or theater...oh joy! It’s all about you now, baby, and it's all up to you as well. Most young people equate going off to college with freedom. If you are one such college-bound student you should keep this in mind:

“Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche, scholar and philosopher

Lynn Mattoon, Content Editor & Career Writer for
CollegeJobBank.com, a Beyond.com career community.