High school and college—the differences

Attendance

In high school—you were required to attend classes. Your attendance and your study time were monitored by your parents.

In college—many professors have attendance policies which dictate that your grade will be lowered after a certain number of absences. Even so, you are not required to attend classes and you must manage your own study time.

Extracurricular activities

In high school—you needed permission to participate in extracurricular activities.

In college—you must decide whether to participate in extracurricular activities. You must learn how to balance your study and recreational time.

Prioritizing

In high school—you could rely on your parents and teachers to help you set priorities and remind you of your responsibilities.

In college—you are responsible for prioritizing important tasks and you must remember what you need to accomplish and when.

Responsibility for your behavior

In high school—you were probably told what your responsibilities were and were corrected if your behavior was unacceptable.

In college—the guiding principle is that you are an adult and old enough to take responsibility for what you do and don’t do, as well as for the consequences of your decisions and behavior.

Time between classes

In high school—usually, you went directly from one class to another each day.

In college—you will often have hours between classes and not all of your classes will meet every day.

Time in class

In high school—you spent an average of six hours per day (thirty hours per week) in class.

In college—you will spend an average of twelve to fifteen hours each week in class.

Attendance

In high school—teachers carefully monitored class attendance.

In college—professors may not always take attendance, but are likely to know whether or not you were in class.

Textbooks

In high school—you were provided with textbooks at little or no expense to you.

In college—you need to budget substantial funds for textbooks—it is not unusual to pay over $200 per quarter for texts.

Understanding graduation requirements

In high school—your counselor made sure that you had taken the classes you needed in order to graduate.

In college—college graduation requirements are complex, can change, and are different for each major. You are expected to know those that apply to you.

Completing homework

In high school—teachers checked your completed homework and provided you with regular feedback.

In college—professors may not always check completed homework, but will assume you can perform the same tasks on exams.

Incomplete work

In high school—teachers reminded you of your incomplete work.

In college—professors usually don’t remind you of incomplete work.

Assistance from instructors

In high school—teachers approached you if they believed you needed assistance.

In college—professors are usually very open and helpful, but will expect you to initiate contact if you need assistance.

Instructor availability outside of class

In high school—teachers were often available to talk to you before, during or after class.

In college—professors will expect you to make an appointment or come to their offices during scheduled office hours.

Instructor educational method

In high school—teachers have been trained in teaching methods.

In college—professors have been trained as experts in their particular academic area and may have never taken an education class.

Absences

In high school—teachers provided you with information you missed when you were absent.

In college—professors expect you to get notes and assignments from a classmate if you miss class.

Instructional materials

In high school—teachers presented materials to help you understand the information in the textbook.

In college—professors may not follow the textbook. Instead, they may give illustrations, provide background information or discuss research about the topic you are studying. They will expect you to relate the information from the lectures and the information from your textbook.

Lecture notes

In high school—teachers often wrote information on the board to be copied into your notes.

In college—professors may lecture nonstop, expecting you to identify the important points in your notes.

Assignments and due dates

In high school—teachers may have taken time to remind you of assignments and due dates.

In college—professors expect you to read, save and consult the course syllabus for this information.

Studying

In high school—you may have studied outside of class as little as 0 – 2 hours per week, and this may have been mostly last-minute test preparation.

In college—you will need to study at least 2 – 3 hours outside of class for each hour in class.

Reading

In high school—you were expected to read assignments that were then discussed, and often re-taught, in class.

In college—you are assigned substantial amounts of reading and writing which may not be directly addressed in class.

Testing

In high school—testing was frequent and covered small amounts of information.

In college—testing can be infrequent and may be cumulative, covering large amounts of information.

Make-up tests

In high school—make-up tests may have been available.

In college—make-up tests are seldom an option.

Test rescheduling

In high school—teachers may have rearranged test dates to avoid conflict with school events.

In college—professors usually schedule exams without regard to the demands of other courses or outside activities.

Review sessions

In high school—teachers may have conducted review sessions, pointing out the most important concepts.

In college—professors rarely offer review sessions.

Subject mastery

In high school—mastery was usually seen as the ability to reproduce what you were taught in the form in which it was presented to you.

In college—mastery is often seen as the ability to apply what you’ve learned to new situations or to solve new kinds of problems.

Grades

In high school—grades were given for most assigned work and consistently good homework grades may have helped raise your overall grade.

In college—grades may not be given for homework assignments. Tests and major papers usually determine the course grade.

Extra credit

In high school—extra credit projects were often available to help you raise your grade.

In college—extra credit is often not available.

First test grades

In high school—first test grades may not have had an adverse effect on your final grade.

In college—watch out for first tests! First tests are often wake-up calls to let you know what will be expected in the course. Poor grades on first tests will usually have a detrimental effect on your final grade.

Grade requirements for graduation

In high school—you may have been allowed to graduate as long as you had passed all required courses with a grade of D or higher.

In college—you may graduate only if your grade point average meets your department’s standard—minimally a 2.0 (C average) and often as high as 3.0 (B average.)

Good faith effort

In high school—courses may have been structured to reward a good faith effort.

In college—though good faith effort is important with regard to the professor’s willingness to help you when you have difficulty, it will not substitute for results in the grading process.

Tutoring

In high school—tutoring or individualized instruction may have been available to you at no cost.

In college—tutoring/individualized instruction is not considered an accommodation for disabilities and may not be available at the college you attend.

Disability accommodations

In high school—teachers knew about your disabilities and followed an educational plan that had been established by your counselor, teachers and parents.

In college—professors do not know about your disabilities until you choose to disclose that information. Professors have no obligation to accommodate students who have not officially disclosed disability and requested academic accommodations. Important principle: accommodations are not retroactive.

Repeating classes

In high school—you may have been allowed to take classes several times or take more than one semester to complete classes, slowly building your skills until you were prepared to demonstrate mastery of the material.

In college—you can take classes more than once but this can be very costly and will delay time to graduation.

Individualized Education Plans

In high school—if you participated in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) or special education, requirements (or entire classes) may have been waived due to your disability.

In college—you will be required to complete all of the essential requirements of your courses, your major and your degree program, with or without academic accommodations. In some cases, substitutions can be identified for required courses, but this does not happen often. Courses/requirements are never waived. Recommendation: Go into every course thinking, how can I get through this rather than how can I get out of this.

Staff support

In high school—you had one person—your counselor, special education teacher, etc.—who helped you to solve all of your school-related problems and advocated for you with other teachers or administrators.

In college—you will need to work with a variety of departments, faculty and staff to solve your school-related problems. The Disability Office will advocate for you only after you make a good faith effort to do so on your own.

Proofreading

In high school—you may have had the help of your parents, tutors and/or teachers to proof your papers on short notice.

In college—WSU Vancouver offers a drop-in writing lab in which peer tutors will review and comment on your papers. In order to make use of the writing lab, you will need to have rough drafts prepared early. You will also need to utilize technology (spell check, grammar check, etc.) rather than to rely on others to proof your writing.

Disability-related advice

In high school—your counselor knew about your disabilities and gave you advice with that information in mind.

In college—due to the confidential nature of disability-related information, your academic advisor will not know anything about your disabilities until you tell them.

Parent involvement

In high school—your parents could call your teachers and counselors to discuss your academic progress and any disability-related problems you might be experiencing.

In college—the Family Rights and Privacy Act prohibits university faculty or staff from sharing information about students with their parents unless those students have signed a release form. Even with a signed release, disability staff usually won’t know how you’re doing unless you’ve expressed concerns.


Special thanks to Pamela S. Wilson, Associate Director, Center for Disability Services, Central Washington University whose work we “borrowed” and modified for our use.