College is high school

[Jordy]

In my first year of college i didn't really go to any lectures where being present wasn't absolutely necessary to pass the course. This worked and I passed my exams just fine with self-study, but now i started to go to every lecture because i am sick of sitting being in the house almost 24/7.

However, I realized that i hate almost everyone who is taking my courses. There is STILL the group of people who go sit all the way in the back of the class where they can talk and giggle. There are still people who give out a type of nervous mocking laugh anytime anyone does something that is mildly awkward or stands a bit out. People still do this type of self-mockery thing where they laugh about the fact they didn't study and failed a class. There are people doing engineering majors, who self admittedly suck at math and just want to get it over with. Who the hell takes electrical engineering while struggling with algebra? And everyone is always complaining about the professors, how they suck at teaching, look weird, waste everyone time etc.

I have to study here for 2 more years, then i can transfer to a better university and do a masters, which may turn out to be a better experience. But now I am really disappointed that I am back in the same situation as I was when in high school.

 

[Swansong]

People do not magically change their personality/culture just because they take their education on a different building.

 

[Outdated]

I don't understand what "college" is in some other countries, am I right in guessing that the term is used for the last bit of high school? How it worked when I grew up was very simple:

Grades 1 & 2 - Infant School
Grades 3 to 7 - Primary School
Years 8 to 12 - High School.

College here still means Tertiary Education, a lower grade of university.

In recent years Australia has broken up the primary and high school system in to 3 schools, there's now a Middle School in there somewhere, although I'm not sure how they split it or why it was necessary.

 

[tree]

People do not magically change their personality/culture just because they take their education on a different building.

Or even when they get jobs.

I worked in a factory one summer with people
in their 30s through 50s.

The ambiance was quite highschool-ish.

 

[MildredHubble]

I find that with most people, the old saying "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail."

Once people find a way of existing/surviving in a system, they keep using the same strategy. So the "jocks" and "valley girls" from school tend to do what worked previously, albeit, in a smaller group.

The good news, in academia, to a certain extent, these types of people get weeded out with each year. They don't completely disappear but they do dwindle in numbers and become less of a problem as you progress through life.

As you gain expertise and experience, you start to find your peer group becomes more similar to yourself, for example, at work. So it's a bit of a waiting game.

Sadly you can't completely avoid people who behave the way you described but your interaction with them does diminish with time. So just keep on achieving at university, focus on your goals and try to ignore silly behaviour as much as possible and things should get better

 

[Jordy]

Focus on the school work, you'll be happy you did later. All that other stuff, all the childish things, all the annoying people, it doesn't matter. When you're done there it's all gone and the only thing that matters is that you did the school work. The rest is just temporary background noise.

My problem is that autism makes it hard to tune out my surroundings, these people that i described don't even really interact with me, but my brain focuses on them anyway

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

College in Ontario is post-secondary education either two years or three mainly business or technology oriented, two years give a technician designation, three years technologist. Both my sons and two of my brothers plus myself are technologists.

 

[Forest Cat]

My problem is that autism makes it hard to tune out my surroundings, these people that i described don't even really interact with me, but my brain focuses on them anyway

Yeah I understand. I had some of the same problems. And I focused on the wrong things too often. It was just some advice I learned from experience.

 

[Jordy]

I forgot to add that there is also chunk of people who aren't like this at all, there are some alright people too.

 

[Au Naturel]

High school now extends into the first two years of college.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

In my first year of college i didn't really go to any lectures where being present wasn't absolutely necessary to pass the course. This worked and I passed my exams just fine with self-study, but now i started to go to every lecture because i am sick of sitting being in the house almost 24/7.

However, I realized that i hate almost everyone who is taking my courses. There is STILL the group of people who go sit all the way in the back of the class where they can talk and giggle. There are still people who give out a type of nervous mocking laugh anytime anyone does something that is mildly awkward or stands a bit out. People still do this type of self-mockery thing where they laugh about the fact they didn't study and failed a class. There are people doing engineering majors, who self admittedly suck at math and just want to get it over with. Who the hell takes electrical engineering while struggling with algebra? And everyone is always complaining about the professors, how they suck at teaching, look weird, waste everyone time etc.

I have to study here for 2 more years, then i can transfer to a better university and do a masters, which may turn out to be a better experience. But now I am really disappointed that I am back in the same situation as I was when in high school.

I think you will find this to be the case with most of the 1st year classes. You're still dealing with 18-19 year olds, who haven't failed college courses, and who also haven't yet experienced the financial penalties of failing those courses. A significant percentage of those students,...won't be there for their second year of classes,...and things will "settle down" in the class rooms. People mature, and the folks that are left in the classes will be those who are more serious. Give it some time. In the mean time,...do your best to focus on yourself and your studies,...and let fools be fools.

 

[VictorR]

To add to @MildredHubble and @Neonatal RRT's comments...

Having attended courses in a number of different schools (university, college, polytechnic) and programs, I've observed:

1) First and second year classes at schools in large cities (and likely "college towns"), especially for those with first year cohort programs, which are designed to mimic high school, will have a certain inevitable level of immaturity. If the school primarily does first year cohort programs, the same courses, outside of the cohort, might be especially problematic as they may contain a significant number of students who flunked out of the cohort.

2) Taking evening courses tends to increase odds of mature students, many of whom work full time or have other commitments. The drawback is that if there are group projects, it may be challenging to find the time to meet and work together.

3) When taking first and second year courses at a smaller "liberal arts college" I also encountered more classmates who were taking their studies seriously. Compared to the city, many more were self-funded or reliant on student loans rather than being bankrolled by their parents, so this likely played a role - they were there to study rather than to pass time between high school and adulthood.

4) Regardless of school or program, usually by the third year one has to declare a major if not already done, and there may be GPA cut-offs, and so usually at this stage shenanigans are minimal at natural selection runs it course.

 

[Owliet]

In my first year of college i didn't really go to any lectures where being present wasn't absolutely necessary to pass the course. This worked and I passed my exams just fine with self-study, but now i started to go to every lecture because i am sick of sitting being in the house almost 24/7.

However, I realized that i hate almost everyone who is taking my courses. There is STILL the group of people who go sit all the way in the back of the class where they can talk and giggle. There are still people who give out a type of nervous mocking laugh anytime anyone does something that is mildly awkward or stands a bit out. People still do this type of self-mockery thing where they laugh about the fact they didn't study and failed a class. There are people doing engineering majors, who self admittedly suck at math and just want to get it over with. Who the hell takes electrical engineering while struggling with algebra? And everyone is always complaining about the professors, how they suck at teaching, look weird, waste everyone time etc.

I have to study here for 2 more years, then i can transfer to a better university and do a masters, which may turn out to be a better experience. But now I am really disappointed that I am back in the same situation as I was when in high school.

First year is always difficult. There are a lot of changes from High school to higher education can be quite a huge shift for most people. It is not uncommon for most people to drop out of higher education during their first year. I hated my first year at university. I had no friends, was often isolated from those on My course — although it was also my Own fault too because in the first weeks when everyone starts to get to know one another, I missed out on it by being myself and not really trying. Sure, I got good results in my Academic studies but I wish I had given it more of a go in interactions Instead of hiding away. I remember one time being laughed at during a seminar because I was very nervous, had a stutter which they copied….because of them I didn’t really start volunteering to give answers until my final year — which surprised everyone then. Those who I worked with on group projects during that time, had this laid back ridiculous attitude towards their learning, and ended up failing the module and repeating the Year/dropping out, by the time it came to the final year there was some noticeable differences in the class.Focus on yourself, and your studies. Ultimately it is up to you to do your own work.

 

[Jordy]

This is my second year, like i said i didn't attend many classes in the first year, I just used the online resources of my college. Classes are bit harder now and i want to get out of the house more, so i am only now going a full week every day to college. 50% of the students already dropped last year.

I really don't fit in the with the local culture of the majority of students, and there are a lot of cliques. I cannot do the small talk, banter and I don't have interest in the mocking of teachers and other students. If this was a company HR would have fired me for being a poor cultural fit.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

High school now extends into the first two years of college.

up here it's a bit different with the exception of stem university and college are starting to blend together. The bright high school students are doing what they call a victory lap an extra year of high school.

 

[Trophonius]

It doesn't change that much as you grow older, really.

People don't magically become adults, just become older. To become an adult, it seems to me essential to be surrounded by others mature adults, which sometimes is impossible in some situations. Therapy also helps. Having real conversations with others helps, but it's a rare thing to have.

I didn't encounter that often in university. In my case, I studied humanities, which here means that the average student is about 60 years old, and has been in an off of university for 20 years - it's not uncommon for people to take 10+ years to graduate.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

When I started college 47 years ago, there was 70 students in first year, only 5 of us graduated 3rd year in the chemical engineering stream, 3 in the microbiology stream. the undisciplined kids did not make it about a dozen got the technician diploma.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

Yeah I always thought once I got to college peoples behaviour would improve. It didn’t however in the Uk education is compulsory til 18 so that might be way. Some people still don’t want to be their,

 

[Progster]

Work/offices are high school, too.