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Maybe things have changed a whole lot but I wouldn't call high school or my first year or two at college "political."
3rd or 4th year college students taking lots of upper level courses in their field of study may find that things can get a little political at the department level, though.
Of course, dealing with that type of politics can be good basic training for the work place, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing....
As many, I am looking to go to college (I am currently in the 9th grade). High school for me has proven to be very stressful. Although I am very happy to get 7 scholarships (to Oxford, Harvard, Emory, Vienna, UCLA, Columbia, and MIT), I feel very pressured to keep my grades very high. Is college more stressful than this??
OK it's kind of a multi-faceted answer.
1.) When I was in HS class went all damn day long and there was always a teacher there keeping me on my toes with the exception of Study Hall....which I only had one year. I thought that was stressful.
2) Alternatively at college there is a lot more down time. (time that you are supposed to be studying and doing homework) Instead of hoping from one class to another for 8 hours a day you may be done at noon 3 days out of the week. So there is time for you to blow off steam before you have to crack the books and do some homework/study/write papers.
3) BUT there is pressure to perform at college that doesn't even compare to what you did in HS. You/your parents are dropping a ton of coin to go to class every day for 4 years so that you can ultimately get a career to support yourself. If you fail.....what is your plan for the rest of your life?
4) BUT in HS there is also pressure to perform. The closer to the top of your class you graduate the more likely it is that you will get into a good school and get scholarships. But unless you're going to private school it costs nothing....which at least relieves some stress on your parents side.
college is stressful, but in a sense it's a mind a game. The trick is to not get freaked out at the beggining and to adjust to all the differences. Academically it's run very different from high school, but once you figure out the system it's not too hard to play the game. The best tips to succeed in college are:
1.Go to Class!!! For the first time ever class will be optional and if you're in a class of 100-300 kids (as many freshman classes are) chances are no one will even notice if you aren't there. Go anyway. Going to class will not only help you master the tests, it'll also make your experience more enjoyable. The majority of kids who I've seen leave college have been the kids who had attendance issues. Trust me from experience sitting in your dorm room in the middle of the day when you should be in class is not much fun. Going to class also opens up the network of people you know more than you'd expect. Not to mention professors love to give surprise quizes.
2.Go to the dining hall! Freshmen often are dissatisfied with the quality of dining hall food. Eat anyway. Faithfully eating three square meals a day is not only good for your health, it's also the only way to keep from wasting your own money (remember, they charge you those meals wether you eat them or not!) Its also a great way to catch up with the people you know. I can't tell you how many times I went to the hall thinking I'd be eating alone then ended up with 5 friends sitting around talking. The dining hall is another occassion to get to know the people at your college.
3.Do the little stuff and worry about the big stuff later: Freshman year you'll probably be studying a whole lot of stuff you aren't intersted in. Study it anyway. I remember how much I despised my LAC classes when I first arrived. But now I am constantly quoting stuff I learned in those seemingly "pointless" classes. Sometimes at first its hard to see where doing all the little stuff fits into the big picture but as time goes on it makes perfect sense.
4.Join a club or two: I remember the first time I dropped in on a club. A lot of the folks I met that very night are still friends or at least friendly acquaintances of mine. Clubs help introduce you to a lot of new people and help build the network of familiar faces. I've found that the more familiar faces you see the more at home you feel.
5.LIVE ON CAMPUS!!! I know this is required at most colleges first year but I can't stress it enough. Living on campus not only is a very high standard of living (I don't know if you've ever lived in one of the really cheap apartments that college towns have to offer... gross!) its also a way to feel in place. You'll be surprised at how many people you'll meet and get to know just from living in the same hall. It can also be a source of safety. Some college towns are in downright dangerous or at least shabby cities. In the dorms you guys are in your own little world.
6.Have fun! Remember that you're still a human being. Being in college doesn't change that. Set time to yourself (I had a tradition of watching my favorite shows every night, or taking walks), do something that'll help you relax. Reward yourself for successes
7.Don't be stingy! Don't think of college as a time of martyrdom. Keep a high standard of living or it'll affect your grades. Make sure you have enough to eat, a warm safe place to live and the other necessities.
8.Aim high: you sound like a very motivated person. Keep that up!
I'm also not sure how you have scholarships if you're only in 9th grade? Perhaps you can explain?
In any case...the stresses of college come from living independently for the first time. At present, do you wash and iron your own clothes? Do you pay for the detergent you use? Do you wash your own dishes, clean your own floors, set up and pay your own electricity bills? Do you wake yourself up every morning and never rely on someone else to do it for you? Do you make all of your own doctor's/dentist's appointments? Do you buy all of your own clothes, including mundane stuff like socks? When you get ill, who takes care of you? All of this was a wake up call for me, and I thought I lived a pretty independent life at home. You have to couple this with academic work, and with making new friends, and with setting your own routine because no one else will do it for you.
I think college is a huge balancing act more than anything. The work is hard but you'll be ready for it.
I think the farther away you get from highschool, the more you realize it's a complete joke.
Honestly, in my highschool class in '95/96, we were watching the OJ case on tv in class. Wonderful use of those scarce "educational resources". I think we spent a whole day or week discussing it, even interrupting tests and regular curriculum. Makes you wonder about the standards being set, when you're worried about a celebrity tabloid news story.
Really depends on the highschool you're in and the college you're going to. My tip would be to read and study a lot of material outside of class....there's so much about the world that isn't taught. Some good books like, The Teenage Liberation Handbook and others.
There's more freedom in college. You can leave campus when you want. I think its important to improve your social skills between hs and college. A lot more social opportunities.
i found that high school was easy. in the 9th grade i thought the next four years were going to be hell. but i was living in a state where education came first among other things. then me and the rest of my family moved to a state where education took a backseat and i breezed through the remaining 3 years.
i am currently a freshman in college. and i dont find that college is that much stressful than high school, i think that being at college and then looking back at high school i find that i had the same stress level.
so i think high school and college are pretty much the same when it comes to stress levels
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