MagiStream

I've been in college for about a year now, community college. There's no way I could afford a university. I love the classes and the environment; however, I feel like a failure when people are taking six 4-6unit classes and I'm taking a couple 4 unit ones. I've always had a problem with getting the work done before the deadline. I swear, it's like my brain only turns on when I'm forced to rush all the work in the day it's due.

I hope I can learn how to change this and just make time through out the week to slowly work on all of it and study. Other than the work load, college has been great.

- Have you been to college? Or a University?

I've done/am doing both. I graduated from a community college with a liberal arts Associates degree. Since my mother was a professor at the school, it was a cheap and easy way to get rid of most of my general education requirement classes without paying thousands of dollars a semester for things I'll never use again like geology.

I'm currently doing my undergraduate work at a university for a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a concentration in criminal justice. This is just step 1 toward my endgame, but I'm almost done and am looking into programs for step 2.

- Has it been helpful?

It has been really helpful. I, like another player, have ADHD and while I was not coddled and actually finished second in my graduating class in high school, I was worried that once the material got harder, I'd have a harder time focusing. I've actually found it to be quite the opposite. If I'm challenged, my mind has an easier time grasping the material and is less likely to bounce about. That has helped my confidence immensely.

It goes without saying that it's helped me with career choices. Once I have this degree, I can, if I so choose, work in some types of law enforcement though I plan to go forward with my education all the way to my doctorate.

Sure, there are things I've learned that I will never use again unless it's just for a random trivia question (difference in precious Vs. semiprecious stones, what Dante might have meant in his divine comedies, etc.), but the actual important parts, I find myself using all the time already.

Overall, it's been a wonderful experience.

- Are you currently enrolled?
I took a couple of semesters off for personal reasons, but I'm registered for fall.

- Have you been to college? Or a University?

To be perfectly honest I'm not all that clear on what differs between the two (I use them interchangeably), but I go to a university in one the states next to me.

I'm majoring in Biomedical science (which happily comes with a built-in chemistry minor |D).

- Has it been helpful?

I'm only just completed my freshman year, so it hasn't really been helpful yet. I'm still slogging through my basic courses so I can get into the higher level classes like microbiology, anatomy, organic chemistry and biochemistry. I get to take intro courses to psych and anthro this fall semester though (since I have to retake a lab, which prevents me from progressing into my higher level bio for now ) which should be fun and interesting.

Most of my courses are sciency, so they're useful for the most part (though I REALLY wish I'd been able to get out of the basic bio courses because they were just a useless rehash of what I'd learned in high school bio :/). And as much as I hate math it's useful too; thankfully precalc this fall semester is the last one I have to take before stats, and then no more math (yay). I did NOT feel that my english course (and the second semester of what qualified as english to an honors student) were helpful in the least, and the the Lord I don't have to take any history courses that I know of.

I also don't feel that my creative writing class was helpful. I took that my first semester because it looking kind of fun - it centered around creating monster characters in writing. But I didn't like the professor or how she taught and I didn't feel I learned anything.

The workload hasn't been all that helpful to my stress levels and overall health. I already have problems with various anxieties and last semester during my chemistry final I started getting heart palpitations. With my creative writing class I purposefully skipped the public reading the prof wanted us to do in favor of remaining mentally okay. And I tend to procrastinate (I work best under pressure for some unholy reason) so a lot of times I wait until a couple of days before to start things. <w< Bad habits are bad.

- Are you currently enrolled?

Yep, 15 credits a semester...that's the minimum I have to take per semester to be classified as a full-time student to keep my financial aid. I could take more but I haven't felt up to taking more yet, especially since during my freshman year I was doing english requirements (which unfortunately were mostly uninteresting and killed any real interest in writing I had).

I'm also an Honors student here but I've been considering dropping it. Biomedical science major is full of difficult sciency things and I really don't feel like I'll be able to deal with the extra workload in my later years and I'd rather take extra psych classes than courses that qualify for my honors requirements. <w< I'm torn on dropping it though because one of the perks of being honors is that I get to enroll before everyone else which means I'm guaranteed to get into the courses I need when I need them.

- Most importantly of all though, is the experience of it. How does one deal with college - especially full-time enrollment. It is truly difficult to be fully enrolled in a university and living off of scholarships, I believe (and two of my friends are about to be).

I found it to be great. The uni I go to is a completely different type of environment and this was one of the first years I'd actually experienced an actual snowfall of more than an inch (per winter :U) of snow. I'm finally actually able to take courses that interest me - which was a major reason I really hated high school (I really disliked having to take four years of english and history classes :/ ). And another nice thing is that I'm now around people who are interested in the same things I am, which is a great feeling because at my HS I didn't really have anyone with similar interests to talk to.

At first the transition was hard because I'd only been away from family for a maximum of three weeks straight before, and yeah, I cried after they left. But then I decided it wasn't so bad being away from them. It was a real eye-opener to the real world. Thankfully I also got a nice roommate (we may be rooming together next year) but the third roomie we got later in the year I didn't like quite as much (she was always bringing over random friends and would wake up hideously early and crinkle her cereal bad really loud whether the rest of us were asleep or not). Overall I've had a really good university experience so far and I'm really looking forward to going back

"Fully enrolled" differs from place to place and between undergrad and grad level work though, doesn't it? I think financial aid awards also play into what's classified as "full time," since my full time is 15 credits or more per semester in order to continue receiving my financial aid. And honestly I didn't find it that hard to live off the financial aid I got (then again I also got a couple thousand dollars in refund for books and to live on for the semester as well, so it wasn't hard ).

My only issue with college/uni in this country is it's so damn expensive. My loans are through the roof but considering what I'm going for with this it'll be worth it in the end but for so many people the expense isn't worth it. I really don't feel like college/uni should be this expensive.

Tekla wrote:To be perfectly honest I'm not all that clear on what differs between the two (I use them interchangeably), but I go to a university in one the states next to me.

In the USA, they are pretty much used interchangeably, but in other countries, even just north of us in Canada, there is a difference, and if someone is going to University, and you say they are going to College, they are likely to be offended, because University is the better of the two. I believe that in the US, there is an actual difference, in the naming and who's allowed to be called a University and who must be called a college, but I'm not certain if it's an age, population, size, number of majors offered, or money thing or what. The college I went to, Boise State University, started as a college, and a few decades ago got to become a University and apparently this was a reason for celebration. *shrug*

Colleges in the US come in two types: a two to four year liberal arts institution which offers basic adult level courses in science, humanities, and artsand as a division of a university. Two year colleges generally offer associate degrees; these are degrees which certify the person has had the basic adult course survey and some offer certificates (generally in applied sciences like nursing or mechanics or applied arts such as early development child care). They tend to be more flexible toward the adult schedule and some also offer GED programs (replaces a high school diploma if the person did not finish). A lot of them also cater to advanced and honors high school students.

A university is like a cluster of colleges. Admission standards tend to be higher and they tend to be more expensive. They offer a wider variety of courses and studies. Each area has its own college: the college of law, the college of education, the college of business, etc. Each college has within it specialized degrees: the college of English, for instance, might offer degrees in English literature, linguistics, American literature, medieval literature, etc. They might also offer certification to teach these subjects.

Generally at a university they willexpwct the student to have finished most if not all their general subjects. Many require a minimal grade point average and previous course load (usually in the mid 3's on a 4.0 scale and twelve credits a semester).

Oooo, good info. Thanks Tx!

One small point of clarification- The GED is NOT just for highschool dropouts. It is for anyone who didn't complete an accredited high school program. This can be be those who dropped out for what ever reason. Not all are just slackers. My brother's have a friend who was bullied so badly that he dropped out, got his GED, went into the army and is now a field medic! I have another friend who's father ditched the family and she went to work to help support her mom and siblings, got her GED. And I know a few slackers who decided WoW was more important than school.
Other reasons for getting a GED are people who go to a private school. Not all private programs are fully accredited. Their education can be comparable, or even better than the public program, but they need that piece of paper that says they know what they know. Sometimes something as simple as "we teach evolution AND creation" can keep a private school from accreditation.
Sometimes, legal immigrants did not have an opportunity for a formal education. They can attend classes and earn a GED. Similarly, sometimes the education they received does not transfer over, so they earn their GED just to prove they have the educational requirements or many jobs, or higher education.
And, for people like me, who were home schooled through high school, many home schoolers do not receive an accredited diploma, so we have to get the GED to get into college.

I read this topic because I'm going to college for the very first time next week and I'm dead nervous.. Glad to say that this helped me calm down some ^^ thanks