While I was in high school, numerous adults would sympathize with me about how awful it is. They'd tell me that college is way better, and that college is where you meet your real friends and figure out who you truly are. While in many ways college may be better than high school, and while I was so incredibly relieved and happy to be done with high school on my graduation day, I still find myself missing it. Here are the reasons why.
1. Having a routine.
School starts at 8 am every morning, lasting all day long until 3 pm. Monday through Friday. Five days a week. Its go go go, no time to stop and smell the roses. While having such long school days is tiring, It's nice to know exactly what you're going to be doing every day. School from 8 am to 3 pm, extracurricular activity from 3 to 5, home by 5:30, dinner at 6, homework all evening, and then bed. In college, you might have gaps in between classes, or days with no classes at all. It's hard to figure out what exactly to do with your extra time in college. It seems like you have so much time, however, it all vanishes. Probably because of all the naps you take.
2. Not having homework on the weekends.
I don't know about the high school you went to, but at my school we almost never had homework on the weekends. The weekends were a time to chill and forget about all the stress of the school week. Teachers were aware of how much we hated having homework on the weekends, and they didn't want to be “that" teacher, so they never assigned us any. College is a different story. College will find you studying on a Friday night (YES a FRIDAY NIGHT) , and all through the weekend. And even though you study 7 days a week, you'll still find yourself feeling constantly behind.
3. It's easier to get involved.
I'll never forget attending my first activities fair at UCLA. Hundreds of booths are laid out, and 75% of the time you have no idea what they even are. Indigenous Cancers of America Society. Puerto Rican Film Brotherhood. Lamdba Alpha Sigma, Beta Pi Phi, Delta Tau Gamma Fraternity/Sorority. In high school, it was so easy to find what you liked and get involved with it because: a) there weren't that many options and b) you didn't have to have any prior skills. A lot of the clubs and activities in college are intimidating because you have to actually apply to them, if you have any idea which ones you actually want to apply to. They say that you find your true self in college, but with hundreds of activities to choose from, it's really not that easy. That's probably why I decided to go through sorority recruitment. You simply have to plaster a smile on your face, be the best version of yourself, and the right house will find its way to you.
4. Being considered the “smart one".
One of the things I might say I miss the most about high school is that you were considered to be the “smart kid". Coming to UCLA, I learned that mostly EVERYONE was that kid in high school. And odds are, you aren't “the smart one" anymore, here at a university of almost 30,000 undergrads. It's hard speaking up in discussion sections, when everyone else sounds so eloquent and philosophical. Back in high school, everything you said was brilliant no matter how eloquent it was. You were the smart one after all, and all the dumb kids would just sit with their mouth agape, drowning in a puddle of drool. Now you're the one drowning in your own drool.
