After being at college for 1.5 quarters now, I have to say that it is infinitely better than being at high school. I have to say that I'm kind of a special case, because I was particularly unhappy at my high school -- very limiting in math classes and flexibility, which really made it not fun. I have to admit that junior/senior year was much better than freshman and sophomore year, but even then I wasn't completely satisfied. I actually graduated a year early because of this -- I thought that college would be a much better experience because I was not limited to the selection of classes offered at high school.
And my expectations were not at all let down; I'm going to Stanford University, and while it is hella expensive, it's definitely worth it to go to a school with such resources as a very extensive library system, great teachers, intelligent people and peers, as well as an excellent support system and a broad range of classes. I am much happier because it's not nearly as much work as I did in my last year of high school, mainly because I lumped my last 2 years of high school into one, but even more because I get to live with the people I go to class with, which allows you to get to know them much better. It makes so much of a difference. You can study with people at any time of the night, and you can just chat to someone or talk to who you feel comfortable with about any problems you might have. It's a much more personable environment, and it's a much better living experience.
I really enjoy, as well, that I have so much flexibility in my classes. Before I basically had to go to school from 8 AM to 3 PM (in my last year, from _7_ AM to 3 PM). Now I can choose what time I want my classes to be, and I can choose what kind of classes I want to go with much greater flexibility. Whereas my last math class in high school (Statistics AP -- nothing was offered after Calculus BC besides this) was really boring and unchallenging, my new math class is so damned hard I wouldn't believe that I actually placed in the class. I love the challenge of understanding all of these new concepts, even if it does mean staying up until 2 PM on Thursday nights to complete the problem set. I also have a much better choice of languages -- instead of being limited to French, Latin, German, Spanish and Japanese in high school, you can fulfill your language requirement here at Stanford with Italian, Russian, and many other languages, including sign language!
I'm taking Italian because my father's Italian, and while I can understand most of the language, I can hardly speak or write it -- and the class is so much fun because I'm doing a language that I'm genuinely interested in. Instead of kind of being forced to take French (I got disenchanted with it after about 3 years), I am able to take what I want. And even though there are some required classes, I even get a choice in those! The humanities and writing classes that you are required to take actually offer about 10 different classes per quarter, because there is no standard reading list or anything like that. And I got to take a fun geology/biology class during the first quarter that was so incredibly specific (Early Life on Earth -- dealing with the origin of life and the solar system and all that fun stuff), I would never have learned so much in-depth at high school, even if I studied on my own. College has really been a godsend for me.
One thing that I have to say though is what my parents always say. Education does not exist to prepare you for a job. Education exists to make you a good citizen; to become an informed person who loves to explore his own interests; to become someone who is fairly well-versed in many areas, including math, biology, writing, and foreign languages. Job training prepares you for your job, not education. And if you think of it in that way, you open yourself up to a world of possibilities; instead of pursuing something that you think will land you a good job, you can pursue something you are genuinely interested in, and it is much more rewarding, even after 1.5 quarters of college, let me tell you. And there is always a job in no matter what field you decide to study; the world is a huge place.
Matrix Agent: The best thing I can advise you in your college search is to find a college that:
is generally well-balanced in all fields of study. It's much better to get a balanced education than one where you get an awesome education in a specific subject and lackluster education in other areas, like the humanities. After all, there
is graduate school.
has good education in where you think you might be interested. Remember, though, that your interests can totally change; I thought I was going to be a math major -- after taking math last and this quarter (even though I love the challenge), I'm kind of thinking I don't think that would be the place for me; I'm thinking more in geology/biology, after taking that class the first quarter. So again, the first point is probably more important.
is going to make you happy to be a student there. Stanford has sure done this for me. Visit the campus many times (in my case it was nice because I lived right near the campus and basically knew it) in order to get a feel for the place and see if you could imagine yourself living there for 4 years. In the end, it doesn't really matter whether you're far from home or close to home, on the East coast of the United States or on the West coast of Europe; just make sure you like the place!
I hope this helps.
Oh, and let me say this: I would LOVE to slap the person who said that the high school years are the best years of your life. Anybody want to come out and admit their mistake?
