Author: Bass Fishing Man #1

Perhaps one of the biggest changes in the transition from high school to college is the new everyday realities. When in high school, especially in small towns like the one I came from, everyone knows everyone. You have your close group of friends, your favorite and least favorite teachers, and you probably know most of your friends’ parents. You have even become an expert on your high school’s layout and know every hallway like the back of your hand. Once you graduate and move on to college, you are thrust into this entirely new world. You don’t know anyone, have no relationship with your professors, and most likely have no clue where you are going. These new aspects may take some time to get used to, but the process goes quickly, and soon you will be making new friends and you will know your way around campus like an expert.

Another big adjustment is the thing people look forward to in college: newfound freedoms. In high school, everything was set to a schedule. You woke up at the same time, went to the same classes, saw the same people, saw the same teachers, and did everything at the same time for days and weeks on end. In college, this routine is flipped upside down. You can now build your class schedule on days that work best for you, wake up whenever you want, like 1 p.m. as opposed to 6 in the morning, study whenever you want, and build your daily routine exactly how you want it so you don’t have to wake up at all for class on Fridays. This is a massive adjustment, and while it is very freeing, it can lead to trouble if you are not responsible for your actions. You still must go to class, study, eat, and believe it or not, you still have to brush your teeth and eat healthily. It is all about finding the right balance between freedom and routine.

There are several positive aspects to online courses in college. The obvious aspect is that there is usually no set schedule, and you can work at your own pace. I found this helpful when I had many other in-person classes that required lots of work outside of class. You can make your schedule and fit in your virtual work whenever you please. I have also found that online classes usually don’t require the purchase of expensive textbooks. I have had two fully online classes in college so far, World Regions and Cultures and Introduction to Design and Culture, and neither required a textbook. Both professors provided us with the reading and the other outside materials, and I feel this made the content much easier to grasp, and it overall made the class easier.

Magna Publications

Despite the positive aspects, there are also many downsides to online classes. Although it seems counterintuitive, online classes are more expensive than in-person ones. Most in-person classes are around a $7 fee, whereas online classes are a $75 fee. Teachers and professors can also be much harder to reach. For instance, virtual teachers will not post or just do not have office hours, and it is always a gamble whether they will reply to emails promptly. For example, my professor for Introduction to Design does not have posted office hours, and he takes about a week to reply to emails. You also lose the connections you would make while working with other students or one-on-one with the teacher. I never met any other students in either of my virtual classes, and I never met either of the teachers. I wish I had these connections for future reference.