7-19-2007

College Q and A

I have the opportunity to join the Honors College/Program at my school.  Is that likely to just be harder and more work, like it was in high school?

Honors is likely to be the best academic experience available at that school.  It will probably be taught by top faculty, have smaller classes, may be more discussion oriented than non-Honors classes, and there are likely to be other perks.  While the material you study may be more complex or you might go into more depth with the material, I think having the best faculty and smaller classes puts you in the best possible position to learn.  I also think those who plan to attend graduate or professional school, are in highly competitive majors, or for some other reason want/need to distinguish themselves above their peers should seriously consider Honors.

I’m planning on coming home from college every weekend to see my friends and family, but my teacher doesn’t think that’s a good idea.  What do you think? 

I think your teacher is right, and I think you’ll feel differently before Christmas.  Either way, you need to start connecting with your new environment, get to know new people, do new things…  This doesn’t mean leaving behind the people at home, only adding to your support system and expanding your experience.  Students who ‘get connected’ at their new schools are more likely to stay in school and be more successful there.

Can I really not wear my high school letter jacket at college?  I just got it!

Well…you CAN wear it.  I just wouldn’t.  A high school letter jacket says to the world “look how good I was at (insert sport here) when I was in high school (but wasn’t good enough to play for this school, otherwise I’d be at practice now)”.  When you want your actions and appearance to say “look how grown up and together I am”.  Bring another jacket.

How much am I really going to have to study in college?  I’ve heard people say they hardly ever study, and others who say they do nothing but study…

The simple answer is that at different times in college, you’ll probably do both.  I think most college students take the opportunity to not study when they have the chance, and they also cram for days at a time when they have to – like during finals.  I like the old adage I was told when I went to college – that you should study two hours for every hour you are in class.  If you were enrolled in 15 credit hours and did two hours for each of those hours, you would spend 45 hours a week on school.  That would be roughly equivalent to a full-time job, and that’s just about right.  Of course you need to remember that is just an average, and some classes, and yes, some majors, will dictate more.

 Submit your questions to lance@collegeanswerguy.com, and visit his websites – http://www.collegeanswerguy.com and http://collegeprep.okstate.edu

 Next week, Interview with a College Student…

Copyright 2007, College Answer Guy,  All rights reserved