Difficulties That Freshmen College Students Experience

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DIFFICULTIES DO FRESHMEN STUDENTS EXPERIENCE FROM HIGH SCHOOL COMPARING TO COLLEGE

PART I. INTRODUCTION

College is really incomparable to high school. You will usually be told what to do and corrected if your behavior is out of line in high school and in college you’re expected to take responsibility for what you do and don't do, as well as for the consequences of your decisions. In high school you will usually be told in class what you need to learn from assigned readings while in college, it’s up to you to read and understand the assigned material; lectures and assignments proceed from the assumption that you've already done so. High school is a teaching environment in which you acquire facts and skills while college is a learning environment in which you take responsibility for thinking through and applying what you have learned. In high school, mastery is usually seen as the ability to reproduce what you were taught in the form in which it was presented to you, or to solve the kinds of problems you were shown how to solve while in college, mastery is often seen as the ability to apply what you've learned to new situations or to solve new kinds of problems. And lastly, in high school, "effort counts." Courses are usually structured to reward a "good-faith effort." In college, "results count." Though "good-faith effort" is important in regard to the professor's willingness to help you achieve good results, it will not substitute for results in the grading process. (http://www.taftcollege.edu/newtc/StudentServices/ACE/differences.htm). Students who are not aware of its difference might as well bump into a great wall. We categorized those difficulties that freshmen encounter into three- academically, socially and emotionally. Students should prepare themselves academically. Academic expectations in high school are not always high, and good grades can often be obtained with minimum effort. This is especially true for bright students who have discovered they don’t have to expend much effort to earn high grades. Unfortunately, part of being “cool” in high school often depends on the ability to project the appearance of not working hard. But in college, academic expectations are much higher, and minimum effort usually produces poor grades. And that falls under acquiring expected grade. In high school, even if you have a little spare time, you could still take time to take care of yourself. But in college, even if sometimes, there is much time for you to fix yourself, you might forget about it because you would be thinking about your study before you could go to your next subject. College students are having a hard time with time management or we could tell that college students are having more hectic schedule. And also, one factor is maintaining grade. All students, especially those who’re taking up scholarship, needs to maintain their grades. And it requires a lot of effort to do so. And also, all grades in college start at zero. Although in some school I know, like dove-cut (in pampanga) and SLC (in La Union), grades starts at a certain grade in their minor subjects. Students should also prepare themselves socially. College is a whole lot different from high school when we’re speaking of environment. In college, you’ll meet new friend far from your old friends’ personality. And you have to get along with that kind of attitude. You have to be down to earth to survive. Intelligence is not enough to graduate. You also had dignity and good values. And also, some friends become more influential. And as for adults, they expect you to act maturely and gracefully. You can’t be doing childish things anymore. Lastly, students should prepare themselves emotionally. In college, you can’t expect to have rest after a discussion or to make the teacher stop in the middle of explaining a certain topic just to lecture all the things she’s saying or what she’s writing on the board. You’re being pressured inside the classroom. You have to go to your class earlier than your teacher for some of them give exams before starting the class discussions. And some teachers maybe terror. And also, the painful effect of failing a grade. And we can’t just ignore all the disturbances we encounter in studies.