Transitioning from school to university
The alarm rings, it is 10 AM. You think to yourself, "No more early morning classes." School is over and university has started, propelling you towards a whole new world.
"Everyone in university has their life together," you think, contemplating how, for the first time in a while, your life will also slowly transition into smooth sailing from here on out.
But wait, there's a lot you haven't accounted for. I want to enlighten you on some of the ways in which university is going to disappoint (or destroy) your expectations.
NO MORE EARLY MORNINGS
This is the biggest lie anyone could tell you. While you can choose your courses in some universities, you will find yourself with that one mandatory course that will eradicate any chance of you getting a few extra hours of sweet sleep. To add a bit more salt to the wound, you'll also be spending many more sleepless nights from the overall stress of exams and assignments.
YOU'LL HAVE PLENTY OF SPARE TIME
Whoever said this was probably pulling a long-run practical joke. You dream of this ideal world, where you only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays that start at 12 PM and end by 3 PM. Unfortunately, what is more likely to happen, is that you will have classes that start at 9 AM, then at 2 PM, and finally one at 5 PM. And those run almost five days a week including all the labs and extra classes that end up in your class schedule.
GROUP WORK
Working in groups during school was either an excuse for you and your friends to chill at each other's houses, or if you were unfortunate enough to not be in the same group as your friends, it would result in you hating your unfamiliar group mates because of one reason or the other. Irrespectively, the result would always be the same. You will always end up with a project so badly managed that you would feel lucky about not getting an F. University life is not going to be any different in this front. Be it chilling with friends, or feeling frustrated while working with incompetent strangers, there is no escaping a poorly executed group assignment or presentation.
GETTING YOUR LIFE TOGETHER
Growing up, there would always be a cousin who was studying in university, and seemed to have his life together. Sadly, being in university now, I realise that it was merely a façade that every university student puts on when attending family events. The university equivalent of the "white picket fence" dream is non-existent. Your life is just as mismanaged as it was when you were in school, and it really doesn't change much. With assignments getting overdue and exams all year around, you will most likely end up sleep deprived after each week.
If all of this seems extremely daunting, I'd like to take this moment let you know that it's okay. University students are just older school kids, and all of us are in the same boat right there with you or waiting for you.
At the end of the day, just like in school, you will end up finding friends (read support group) who will help you somehow survive four more years of School version 2.0.