University

It's much, much more complex than high school. Otherwise, what would be the point?

However, after some initial troubles, you should grow to the challenge and pass at least with satisfactory grades.

It depends a lot on which university course you are talking about, but I can speak from my experience as a university student and tutor of students.

First year university courses are generally a bit harder than grade 12, but not by an excessive degree. The big challenge comes in the radical shake-up of how the education is structured to you. Many high school students are used to information being spoon-fed to them; expecting to work through a text book with their teacher ready to help them out whenever they get stuck or to give you a prod when you are slacking off. At univeristy, they treat you like an adult and expect you to do the work yourself; no-one will come chasing after you if you don't do your homework because if you want to fail - hey, that's your choice. That isn't to say there won't be a support network of tutors and lecturers to help you if you get stuck, but you have to be the one that goes to them for help and you have to be the one that forces yourself to do the exercises set in class. Many first year students don't get the hang of that.

The difficulty will ramp up considerably as you get to later years, particularly in the sciences, as usually only people interested in that subject continue to the later years (for example, most people in first year maths will be doing it as part of their requirement towards towards another degree, whereas a third year student be likely to be a maths major) . Final year studies will be fairly tough. And further studies such as a masters and especially a Ph.D. will be tougher still, as a Ph.D. student has to work on and beyond the cutting edge of their field.

Honestly, as long as you are willing to put in the effort yourself and to seek help whenever you need it, you should be fine at university.

Just read Trappers' post over and over again. It's really some solid advice!

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Original post by Trapper Zoid The big challenge comes in the radical shake-up of how the education is structured to you. Many high school students are used to information being spoon-fed to them; expecting to work through a text book with their teacher ready to help them out whenever they get stuck or to give you a prod when you are slacking off. At univeristy, they treat you like an adult and expect you to do the work yourself; no-one will come chasing after you if you don't do your homework because if you want to fail - hey, that's your choice. That isn't to say there won't be a support network of tutors and lecturers to help you if you get stuck, but you have to be the one that goes to them for help and you have to be the one that forces yourself to do the exercises set in class. Many first year students don't get the hang of that.

And that is why i saw many colleagues of mine gaving up college in the first/
second year. And i saw that all over again and again and again in the folowing
years. And some/most of them had good grades when they camed from high school
(better grades than me, anyway).

If there is some sort of lesson i could take from my college experience is that no one gives a f*ck of how smart you were in high school. If you are reasonably smart but lazy and dont give a damn, then you will either fail or spend an abnormal number of years completing your degree... especially in CS (except if you are some girl-blondie-sort-of-parasite that goes allong trying to pass courses by asking other guys to do assignments for her).

The bottom line here is that it doesn't matter how much brains you have... it's
far more important what you are able to do with whatever brains you may have.

I dont know if its true where you are, but here in the UK you often find that the first year of university is a "foundation year" and doesn't actually count towards your final degree (e.g. my CompSci degree was 0/40/60 % splits).

The whole idea of the foundation year is to make sure all students are on the same page. The second year is where the real "fun" begins and everyone who makes it into the 2nd year has at least the basic knowledge required to understand/complete the "proper" modules.

Not to be cocky, but I mostly slept through my first year (I had a rule that any lecture before lunchtime was optional) and got a first-class overall. I had a very average academic record pre-university but I'd been doing computer-science related stuff in my spare time for several years and that worked in my favour.

The other thing to consider is that if you're finding the course hard and you make the effort to talk to your tutor(s) then they'll usually help you out. I know some people who switched courses in the 1st year because they realised they made a bad choice.

hth
Jack

University is not as hard as some people make it look like. Some teachers in high school are especially good at this. They do not miss an occasion to tell the students that they will fail university if they don't do their homework, study hard enough, aren't serious enough, etc. I had many teachers in high school tell us that at university, the teachers don't write notes on the blackboards and that you had to write your own notes. They said we had to practice taking notes as he was speaking. They used this as an excuse not to write anything on the blackboards. This is entirely false because every university teacher I had either wrote everything on the boards, gave out photocopies of their notes to students, or had powerpoint projections full of notes for us to copy or just print.

University is harder than high school because the teachers are not there to watch your back. You have to want to succeed. If you don't do your homework there is often no second chances. Often, the teachers give work that will not be verified. It's entirely up to you to do the work. Those who want to get the best grades do all the work. Those like me who cannot care less don't do the work. I never saw the point of killing myself on work for extra high grades. I still managed to get good enough grades to be able to start a Master's degree.

Having good grades in high school is a good indication that you will do well at university. If you do what the teachers ask you to do, you won't have any problems.

Many professors will fuck you over, because they're either arrogant, stupid, or don't care for the students. You should watch your ass at all times and don't be afraid to raise a stink whenever possible.

Stand up for yourself.

And don't worry about 'not being smart enough'; there's a good wad of university that just has to deal with being responsible and putting up with it.

This information is awsome! Thank you all so much for your time

In my experience, most people who don't do well at university failed because:

• They think that because the profs don't take attendance they don't have to show up
  
• They miss their high school friends instead of finding new friends
  
• They cling too closely to their high school friends that ended up at the same university
  
• They were top of the class in their high school but can't handle being average at university
  
• Not ready for the responsibilities that come with moving away from their parents
  

I think bachelor degree was rather easy. University is not as much about 'classes' than about broadening your views.

Personally, I saw two kind of people that failed:

-People that went trough high school working like crazy, like doing every possible exercice three times. There's is too much material to do that, understanding the concepts is much more important than memorizing lots of cases.

-People that played too much counterstrike.

Personally, some semesters, I went to about hours of classes each day. Rather than sitting and listening to a teacher, I stayed home and experimented with the concepts. I did well. For the advanced object-oriented class, I went only to the first half-hour of the semester.

So, overall, no. Bachelor degree courses werent very difficult. You will do well!

Sort of a silly question. If you have an opportunity to go to college and you pass it by then obviously you're not smart enough to go to college. If you have the opportunity and cease it then you're obviously smart enough to go to college. It is a lot harder than high school. If you make a bad choice in majors and doggedly pursue it then you most certainly can flunk out. If you use a bit of sense, assess your aptitudes and match them well to your choice in majors then all you need is hard work to make it through.

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Original post by Ravuya Many professors will fuck you over, because they're either arrogant, stupid, or don't care for the students. You should watch your ass at all times and don't be afraid to raise a stink whenever possible. Stand up for yourself. And don't worry about 'not being smart enough'; there's a good wad of university that just has to deal with being responsible and putting up with it.

I completly agree. You will rarely find a professor who likes his job, or is willing to go out of his way for his students. The whole idea with University is that if you don't get things in, don't ask. You've got to really pressure these guys or you're getting nothing from them. However on the flip side you have less class hours, and more time on your hands. So use that extra time wisely, get all your homework out of the way, crack open the booze and drink until you drop.

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Original post by twin892 I was wondering how difficult university courses are compared to high school.

It depends on the university and the high school.

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Original post by PumpkinPieman Quote: Original post by Ravuya Many professors will fuck you over, because they're either arrogant, stupid, or don't care for the students. You should watch your ass at all times and don't be afraid to raise a stink whenever possible. Stand up for yourself. And don't worry about 'not being smart enough'; there's a good wad of university that just has to deal with being responsible and putting up with it. I completly agree. You will rarely find a professor who likes his job, or is willing to go out of his way for his students. The whole idea with University is that if you don't get things in, don't ask. You've got to really pressure these guys or you're getting nothing from them. However on the flip side you have less class hours, and more time on your hands. So use that extra time wisely, get all your homework out of the way, crack open the booze and drink until you drop.

I've found quite a few good prof's over the years, those who are actually willing to take some time and help their students, who will be willing to work with you when things go wrong. Guess I've just been lucky.

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Original post by xanin Quote: Original post by PumpkinPieman I completly agree. You will rarely find a professor who likes his job, or is willing to go out of his way for his students. The whole idea with University is that if you don't get things in, don't ask. You've got to really pressure these guys or you're getting nothing from them. However on the flip side you have less class hours, and more time on your hands. So use that extra time wisely, get all your homework out of the way, crack open the booze and drink until you drop. I've found quite a few good prof's over the years, those who are actually willing to take some time and help their students, who will be willing to work with you when things go wrong. Guess I've just been lucky.

Prof's, in general, are pretty good at picking up on who's interested and who's not. If you're not interested in what they're saying, they won't be interested in what you're saying. If you're interested, they'll bend over backwards to help you.

Also, at the university I did my undergrad in, poor professors didn't get to stick around long. I had two truly terrible professors and they weren't in the system long enough to see me graduate. The majority of the professors I had contact with were some of the most interesting people I've ever met.

Sounds to me like you guys go to some pretty crappy schools. Most of my professors have been more than happy to work with me when I approach them about something.

Of course, the difference might be that I actually bathe unlikes some people...

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Original post by zer0wolf Sounds to me like you guys go to some pretty crappy schools. Most of my professors have been more than happy to work with me when I approach them about something. Of course, the difference might be that I actually bathe unlikes some people...

Har har. It could also be that professors hired to perform research detest actually having to teach...

The mere fact that you are actually asking this question truthfully and in understandable English before going to college suggests that you'll be well above the average student at somee average university.

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Original post by LessBread Quote: Original post by twin892 I was wondering how difficult university courses are compared to high school. It depends on the university and the high school.

Not only that, it depends on the courses you pick, the people you get in group projects, your work ethic, how clever you are, how easily you adjust etc. etc.

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Original post by MDI Quote: Original post by LessBread Quote: Original post by twin892 I was wondering how difficult university courses are compared to high school. It depends on the university and the high school. Not only that, it depends on the courses you pick, the people you get in group projects, your work ethic, how clever you are, how easily you adjust etc. etc.

Yes. I should also hope that upperdivision courses would be more difficult than high school without any doubts.

I just came across this: The Washington Monthly College Rankings, in particular, Is Our Students Learning?

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... But what's missing from all the rankings is the equivalent of a bottom line. There are no widely available measures of how much learning occurs inside the classroom, or of how much students benefit from their education. This makes the process of selecting a college a bit like throwing darts at a stock table. It also means that colleges and universities, like our imaginary mutual-fund managers, feel little pressure to ensure that students learn. As anyone who's ever snoozed through a giant freshman psychology 101 lecture knows, sitting in a classroom doesn't equal learning; knowledge doesn't come by osmosis. To be sure, determining the quality of a college education isn't as simple as calculating the yield of a mutual fund. But it's not impossible either. In fact, some reliable measures of student learning, engagement, and post-graduation success have already been developed. These measures reveal where professors are the most effective at teaching, where graduates readily find jobs, and where students walk away with little more than expertise in conspicuous beer consumption. So why haven't you heard about these measures? Because many school administrators don't want you to know. Putting their grades on the table is the last thing many colleges and universities want--especially since those grades would likely show that many of the elite colleges so prized by striving students are not backing up their lofty reputations by doing the best job of helping students learn. ...