Throughout my twelve years of school, teachers made a lot of assumptions about college and the future. Thankfully, most of the things we were told are lies and college is not nearly as intimidating as they made it out to be.
1. You need to know cursive
Elementary school teachers made it seem like you wouldn't be able to communicate with people unless you knew cursive. Outside of signing my name, I haven't used cursive since.
2. MLA format
MLA format was drilled into our heads in high school because it was supposed to prepare us for the future. The only problem with that is college professors want all your papers in APA format and of course, we were never taught that.
3. Professors won't remind you about due dates
High school teachers stopped telling us when things were due because supposedly, that is what would happen in college. I don't know about you but between emails, canvas/blackboard notifications, and the syllabus, most of my professors remind me of due dates more than any high school teacher ever did.
4. Lectures will only be verbal
Thank God this isn't true. High school teachers made it seem like lectures were constant talking and if you missed something, there was no going back. Not only do all my professors have powerpoints to accompany their lectures, but they also post the slides online in case you missed something.
5. No attendance
This is one lie that I wish was true. Unfortunately, most of my professors take attendance as a big part of the final grade. It doesn't matter what your excuse for not making class is, you'll still miss points.
6. No snow days
For the most part, colleges rarely have snow days. If you're a midwest college student however, this winter has probably given you a few days off. Even if the whole campus doesn't close down, you might get lucky and have classes cancelled anyways.
7. There's no extra credit
College professors give way more extra credit opportunities than I ever had in high school. Plus, if your professor really likes you, they might boost your grade at the end of the semester for no reason which is always a nice surprise.
8. College professors are more strict
I don't know about you but I never had a high school teacher show up in blue jeans, ask me to call him/her by their first name, and swear in class.
9. The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell
The worst thing that's happened to me in college is finding out that the definition of the mitochondria is a whole lot more complicated than that.
10. You can't procrastinate in college
Some of my best work has been done the day the assignment is due. Should you procrastinate? Probably not. But can you? Absolutely.
