Freshman Year: High School and College, Similar or a drastic difference?

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Hart

Brandon Hart

Professor Amanda Miller

English 101

12 February 2012

                Freshman Year: High School and College, Similar or a drastic difference?

        It’s your freshman year of college; your parents give a final goodbye as you walk away, anxiously walking into the next chapter into adulthood. Like many of us, you ask yourself: “How can this be any different from freshman year of high school?” – well it is.

        While in high school, students aren’t being prepared for the next chapter as much as we should be. Because high school teachers are lacking the fulfillment of this essential responsibility, we are finding that when college year comes around, first year students are more stressed and unprepared then ever before. The first of the sequence of experiences is the arrival and first impression.  In high school, freshman students arrive with a low maturity level. Although high school students typically don’t have the anxiety, comparable to that of a college freshman, it’s still present. Both types of freshman are unsure of what to expect, not to mention the new surroundings.  High school freshman do, however, have one thing that college freshman do not have the luxury of having with them for a sense of comfort, friends. Typically college students move away for school, meaning they leave behind old friends. Having to start out in a new school and new town without friends can be a stressful and uncomfortable situation for anyone.  

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                Emotional distress can also differ between the two stages of life. “An increasing number feel unable to cope with the emotional demands of college life, and transitional worries have morphed into longer-term fears: Why isn't life falling into place for me?” (Christine B. Whelan). The University of California, in Los Angeles, CA, conducts a yearly, national survey – asking more than 200,000 college freshmen each year. The results of this survey are appalling. The report tells us that college freshman are increasingly becoming “overwhelmed”, as well as having their emotional health levels at an all time low.  In college, ...

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