The college experience is totally different from high school in many different ways. Personal freedom depends on me, class time varies, and teaching strategies depend on the professor. Time management has always been mostly my responsibility, but now that my mom and teachers are not here it is entirely up to me. When I do homework is when I get my books out and do my homework, not when my mom tells me to. Studying before a test was 10 minutes before the test, now that tests cover more information I study hours a day before the test. Time in the class room now depends on my schedule, as when before high school had set times for certain classes. Some classes may even get out early if the professor is done giving you the material that they need to. To me the hardest thing to deal with is note taking. I was never taught to good notes, in high school the teacher put an overhead on and students copied it word for word. Now professors lecture the information and expect you to figure out what the important points are. I even took a class in high school to help me take good notes and everything I learned has done nothing for me here at college.
In college, like in everyday life, there is peer pressure. The problem with peer pressure is that there is good peer pressure, like when everyone decides to have a study party in the lobby of my residence hall and there is bad peer pressure like when friends decide to go to a party with alcohol and they invite me. Bad peer pressure affects every student. The challenge is how to resist temptation to the bad peer pressure. In life, I have learned the best way to resist peer pressure is to stay close to positive influences in my life, like my friends and family. My friends and family keep me grounded and throughout my life have helped me realize that I should always strive excellence in whatever area of life I am working on at the present moment. Staying away from peer pressure will be difficult but with the love of my friends and...