The college experience is almost always a jolt to first-year students, who find the demands and freedoms surprisingly different from living at home and going to high school. Southern Methodist University's Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center provides the following comparisons. Fall classes at SMU start Aug. 23. High School College Personal Freedom High school is a teaching environment in which you acquire facts and skills. College is a learning environment in which you take responsibility.
High school is mandatory and usually free.
College is voluntary and expensive. Each day you proceed from one class directly to another. Teachers carefully monitor class attendance. Professors may not formally take roll, but they likely know if you attended. Most of your classes are arranged for you.