Differences Between High School & College
Participation
High School: Students are required to be in school. They are usually told which classes to be in and which extra-curricular activities they can participate in, and parents have access to their grades and records.
College: College is voluntary. Students decide which classes to enroll in, which major to choose, and which extra-curricular activities to participate in. Also, colleges do not share students’ records.
Identifying/Disclosing a Disability
High School: Education is a right. School districts are responsible for identifying a disability, developing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), providing the supports and fundamentally altering curricula, and providing medical/physical disability services.
College: Education is not a right. Students must meet certain admissions requirements, must disclose their disability to the disability office, and are responsible for activating and using the approved services. No fundamental alterations are allowed, and no personal services are provided.
Tests
High School: Tests are usually administered frequently with review sessions and moved around to not interfere with other school sponsored activities. They usually measure a student’s ability to reproduce exactly what was taught in class.
College: Tests can be infrequent and cumulative with no review sessions offered. Make up tests are rarely offered, and tests are not scheduled around other demands/activities. Mastery is usually seen as the ability to apply the learned material to new situations.
Grades
High School: Grades are given for most assignments, homework grades can often boost your overall grade, there are extra credit opportunities, and you can usually pass with a grade of D.
College: Grades are not provided for all assignments, extra credit is not always offered, tests/projects are usually weighted heavily, and different departments can have different standards for graduation.
Classes
High School: The school year is 36 weeks long, classes usually have no more than 35 students, learning and studying are done in class or in study hall, textbooks are provided for free, and class material is discussed and reiterated.
College: The academic year is year-round, and some classes can have 100+ students. Students are often assigned substantial amounts of reading to be done outside of class, and students should review their notes and material multiple times. A budget should be created to purchase textbooks.
Teachers/Professors
High School: Teachers bear much of the responsibility of a student’s learning, such as checking completed work, reminding you of incomplete work/assignment due dates and giving you missed work when you were absent. They are often available before, during, and after class, and monitor your attendance.
College: You bear the responsibility for your learning. Professors may not check for completed work or remind you of incomplete work but will assume you know it for tests, may only be available during office hours, may use their lecture to amplify the information from the textbook-not summarize it. They also may not check for attendance.