High School VS. College: What It's Really Like As Experienced Firsthand

5 Lies They Tell You In High School About College

No matter how many guidebooks you read or high school advisors you talk to, the only way to really understand what college is going to be like is to experience it firsthand. Just ask college student Dan Sabato.

The 21-year-old from Philadelphia recently made a list on Tumblr of all the misconceptions he had about college before he got there. He ended up striking a strong note among fellow students -- the post quickly went viral on the social sharing site. Take a look at his chart, below, and let us know if you agree with him in the comments!

In high school they told us: "There will be no grades in a class except the midterm and the final, so you have to study hard because failing one test means you fail the class."

Once I was in college a professor said: "Hey, you guys are working really hard on your third paper, so I'm just going to cancel the final and give everyone '100' on it."

In high school they told us: "In college, class always begins exactly at the scheduled start time. If your class is at 9 a.m. and you get there at 9:01, the doors will be locked and you'll be out of luck -- especially if it's the day of the midterm or final because then you get a zero."

Once I was in college a professor said: "Does anyone mind if I start class at 3:35 instead of 3:30? These elevators are really slow and I want to have time for a cigarette before I teach for 90 minutes."

In high school they told us: "Every class you miss drops you a full letter grade in college courses."

Once I was in college almost every professor said: "You can miss three classes without a penalty, and a few more if you have a doctor's note. Sorry to be a hardass, but you automatically fail if you miss more than 10 days of class."

In high school they told us: "If you do have papers, your professors just lecture and put the assignments on the syllabus. You're completely responsible for remembering the deadlines. They won't remind you. All your professors will do is lecture and the rest is up to you."

Once I was in college a professor said: "Okay, so your next paper is in two weeks! I'll keep reminding you in the interim, but I just want to make sure you have enough time to do it! Let's run through the structure -- I want to see real quick, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me or come to my office hours!"

In high school they told us: "You have to use MLA formatting and if you make any mistakes in your citations, it'll be considered plagiarism. You'll be expelled and probably sued."

Once I was in college almost every professor said: "Please do not use MLA. It is awful. We use either APA or Chicago here because we are not 14 years-old."

Dan also wanted us to make one thing clear: this does NOT mean that college is easy! Head over to Dan's blog to read more from him.

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