College life is like..

For any student, the college experience is at their heart. For all of those who visit college, they believe it to be a special place to study and live. 

For some, attending parties is what they need to smoothly transition into college and make friends all of a sudden. While others might take another route which is less desperate and probably a bit slow. Like joining clubs, sports teams, or even just attending social events that gather like-minded people. Doing what feels best for yourself, even if that may not conform to the expectations of the typical social scene, is key to building a friend group that will allow you to enjoy the college experience to the fullest.

Not admitted:

millions of school students get to know their own college admissions results every year. These days, the heavily waited for news lands via a password-protected portal on a phone or laptop. Alas, one more thing has changed. Now, It is comparatively harder to get into a selective college or university as compared to earlier years. Due to this, applicants are facing unprecedented uncertainty in their young lives. However, think of its as part and parcel of the process. Application rejections are inevitable for most of us. Rather, think of the resilience that it will build in you. It would be a major asset when you get hired into your workplace. 

Now that we have discussed the interesting aspect of making friends at college let us discuss some core concepts too. 

academics 

Unlike your school, your college courses are split into categories. It mostly consists of general education courses, major courses, and course electives. Let us understand them all briefly. As the name suggests, general courses are mostly a good mix of math, science, and humanities classes to give you a well-rounded education. Next are major classes that are more specific and have more depth for the selected specialization. These are inevitable to complete for earning a specific major. Lastly, to explore topics outside of your major, you have Electives. In most cases, they are not required by your university. However, you opt for them to learn more about the world and to develop new skills. 

Course difficulty and class plan

A college would be more demanding as compared to your school. In terms of your workload, recall the three categories described above. Out of that, your major will be more challenging in terms of the workload. The expectations from general education or prerequisite courses may not be so high. In most colleges, you'll have to earn a certain number of hours to be able to claim your degree. To balance out your workload, always take guidance from your academic advisor allotted to you by the college. 

Extracurriculars

Extracurriculars is any activity where you participate outside of the classroom> these may be held by clubs, organizations, and activities groups of college. This is the best way to connect with others who have common interests or goals and support each other through the college experience. It will help if you choose the extracurriculars based on your hobbies or to gel in with a community which interests you. It is well known that only being studious does not mean much. Rather, having involvement in extracurricular activities helps in gaining essential life skills. It also gives a great and positive college experience.

Jobs

This aspect fascinates many students. As a school going kid, you might not have much other than running errands. But a college student can do a proper job like an adult. May it be part-time or full0time. In fact, in campus jobs like tour guide job or grounds keeping crew is very popular amongst students. Unfortunately, every college student cannot get an on-campus job. So most students look for a part-time off-campus job. 

What is college; like for those who are not so young?

Like many, you may have decided to join the college in your unconventional years. In the years which is not equal with that of your peers. Even a difference of 5-6 years in the upper range makes you feel unfit with the overall class. Although such students are definitely more than what happened in the past. It feels intimidating to represent the "older" age demographic, being identified as one of the minority groups age-wise. But only those know the unconventional turns that they had to take in life.; to get them to where they are today.  

Although, taking time to get life together and figure out future plans should be attached with no shame. They preconceive the idea that they will have to feel a "hustle in the air" while trying to fit in and attend college. When you are mostly surrounded by younger students who may not be including you, It's reasonable that you might experience self-doubt or negativity. Although always remember, and this cannot be stressed enough: older students have a special thing to offer; a lot of wisdom and hope. They inspire young gullible students and henceforth instill kindness and inclusivity in them. 

Obstacles in college life: 

one faces certain obstacles when embarking on the college journey. One such hurdle is the expectation of creating new relationships from scratch. Like they show in a movie, creating a solid friend group. Such romanticizing of college is shown in many ways in our society. It is pictured as the only scenario in which you meet your friends who will supposedly stick by you through the rest of your life. In addition, people have raised the misguided view that the best parties and social events occur within a college group of friends fraternity only. While joining people as friends in college has its many benefits, like offering a situation for social connection, it evidently has a few drawbacks as well. For myself, the first time I decided to attend a party, in my mind, I hoped to be blown away by that experience. I expected that attending such an event was the first step to feeling 'I Fit in'. However, I was just moments into the party, and bang came to the realization that it did not suit me in the way that I had envisioned. Although pretty soon, I realized that forcing myself to make relationships always work the other way out.

That’s all for today. Do read our other blogs related to preparation for your college entrances. After all, Just daydreaming about college life won't help, Right?

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