In life there are those key – make or break moments that if bridged correctly, takes us to the next important phase of life. After school comes college, and young people who have undergone the transition from one to the other realize how different both lives are in spite their seeming similarities, while this transition is pleasurable and exciting but can also be very challenging. Some find it easy to shift from school to college, adjusting to all aspects of their new life. However, others struggle to face the changes and may even find them disappointing or depressing, but eventually endures it.
The phase of admission process is about to start as results are pouring out, cut off being declared by the university and counselling dates being announced, seems to be the gravest period for the students because of the increasing competitions, it triggers a great deal of anxiety & stress. Gone are those carefree days where everything was seemed to be served on the plate or can be quoted as spoon fed to us but college gives us the sudden bash of responsibilities and obligation on our shoulder to move forward and accept the reality.
- In school we are more structured than college, which tends to address our personal freedom. Time is usually structured in a tight schedule of six long hours and has back to back class whereas college gives us free time in between classes.
- In school if you bunk a class or school then it’s a big deal if teacher comes to know about that may even punish or call your parents to the school but if you bunk your college classes no one pays heed to it.
- In school, you either need permission to participate in extra-curricular activities or teachers recommend or ask you to participate, whereas in college it’s totally up to you whether you want to participate or not in any activity.
- In school, we become dependent on parents and teachers to remind us of our responsibilities and help us set priorities, whereas, in college we are faced with many moral and ethical decisions we have not previously faced, and must balance our responsibilities and set priorities.
- In school we are told what our responsibilities are and are corrected if our behaviour is out of line, in contrast to college, where we are responsible for what we do and do not do, as well as for the consequences of our decisions.
- School means everybody knows you and your life history. College means an opportunity to start from scratch, reinvent yourself, and be cooler than you were in school. You usually go to a local school. However, in college students come from different parts of the state or country. This means everyone is given the chance to repackage their personalities.
- School attendance is carefully monitored and is taken only once in the morning by the class teacher, whereas in college there is attendance for every class you attend, professors may not formally take attendance but certainly the percentage criteria is followed.
- Consequently, teachers perform differently at these two different levels of education. For instance, school teachers check for completed class work & notes, and homework, whereas professors may not always check for completed class notes & personal research homework.
- School teachers approach students if they believe they need help or tutoring, but professors expect you to ask for help
- In school, a teacher provides material on the blackboard to be copied or dictates us the notes, whereas professors may lecture nonstop, expecting students to identify the important points in their notes.
The school phase nurtures us fir the further moral and higher studies whereas college phase becomes the mentor for us, which prepares us for the survival and mould us into the reality of life. So the student should be armed with the right resources to cross each of the life’s critical bridges. Moreover, school institutions, college & university, faculties, must have the fullest possible picture of the human being they will be working with in order to set up the best possible conditions for success.
