I had attended a private school from grades sixth through twelve and am currently a freshman at a private college. Over my first year of college, I have noticed the similarities and differences between my private school, Morristown-Beard School, and my private college, Muhlenberg College.
Private College and Prep Schools
1. If you went to a private school like mine, you had no more than 100 students in your class and if you went to a school that went from grades 6-12, you had less that 600 students in your entire school.
2. You don't necessarily have a uniform, but you have a strict dress code.
3. You do not live at your school.
4. The class sizes are small and there are no more than fifteen students per class.
5. Everyone knows everyone from their grade and the other grades as well.
6. You sit with the same people every day at the same table and it's never hard to find an empty table.
7. You never wait in a huge line to get your food.
8. Your teachers know you before you walk in the classroom for the first day of classes because all teachers talk about their students. They know you extremely well if you have an older sibling that has had your same teacher.
9. It's very rare to not be cast in a musical/ play if you auditioned.
10. It is likely that you have more than one class with the same people and it is rare to not have at least one of your friends in each of your classes.
11. Everyone knows the mistakes you've made or the rumors people have made about you, whether true or not. People remember that you messed up at your Bat Mitzvah in seventh grade.
12. You have to be careful about your decisions and enemies you make because you will always run into the people that you want to avoid.
13. If you went to a school like mine, you know that there are very few people that don't have any Apple products, especially if your school made everyone buy iPads.
14. Your parents pay for your education.
15. You have a lot of school breaks and get off for every little holiday or when a single snowflake falls out of the sky. You even have a two-week spring break.
16. Although it gets boring after seven years of attending the same school, you love your school's food, especially their chocolate chip cookies!
17. Your school always mails your family asking for a donation.
Private colleges
1. If you go to a school like mine, you have 500 students in your year, and 2000 in your entire college.
2. No one cares what you wear; more often than not, you probably wore your pajamas to class. Go wild!
3. Like all Colleges, most people sleep in dorms, while others commute.
4. The class sizes are extremely small compared to public colleges. It's very rare to have a class bigger than twenty, with exception of science classes and lectures.
5.You most likely don't know everyone's name, but you can recognize familiar faces and notice the people who always eat in the dining hall the same times as you.
6. You don't have a usual table and are lucky to find a seat during prime dining hours. You don't dine with the same friends/people every day
7. There have been times that you've waited in line for over a half an hour to get your food and sometimes it gets annoying.
8. Your professors don't know who you before walking in the classroom but learn your name quickly. If you go to the same college as a sibling and have a professor that he/she also had, they won't remember, and you have to show a picture of your sibling from your phone to give them a reminder. This results in the professor pretending to remember by saying "oh yeah."
9. Getting cast in productions is super competitive and it is likely that you will go to the same college for four years without getting cast in a main stage production.
10. It is likely that you won't share a mutual class with someone, and it is also common that you won't be friends with the people in the same major as you.
11. Like all colleges, the campus is too big for people to know every mistake you made, so you just have to avoid the handful of people who know that you hooked up with John Doe and then broke his heart the next morning.
12. You have to be careful about your decisions and enemies you make because you will always run into the people that you want to avoid.
13. After attending a high school where everyone has iPads and iPhones. you are mind-blown by the fact that not everyone owns an iPhone or any Apple product.
14. More often than not, students pay for their own college tuition, with help from scholarships and financial aid.
15. You don't have off for every little holiday, but you have a month off during winter break. However, you only have a week off for spring break.
16. Although you know your college has better food than most, you grew tired of it before your first semester of college ended. I miss my high school's cookies!
17. Not only do they mail your family, but they mail students as well asking for donations.
