Hanzel M.
Rebuta BSMT 1 - B
NEW BEGINNINGS
Another chapter in our life had begun and another page to write down in our book
of life for more memories to reminisce. After finishing our primary and secondary
education, we are now finally in the last stage of being a student, which is college. Few
more years or steps to go and we could finally say that “I did it”. Remember the days of
being a freshman in high school and thinking how badly you wanted to hurry up and
graduate to proceed in college, to end up all the stress you have, thinking that college is
way better than high school? Little we did know, after a few months of being a college
student, that college life is more stressful and challenging. It’s only been months when our
college life had begun, but it felt like years. According to Josh Gonzales “In college we do not
seek for recognition, we are after the survival; college is a battle between me and myself,
and me with my degree. Will I finish it or will it finish me?” Many still have the hard time
adjusting to the new environment, new schedule and understanding the way life of a
college student. “College is an ocean. It’s either you sink or you’ll help yourself swim” (Josh
Gonzales). Why do many college students feel depressed or have a conflict between their
personal and student life?
Everyone knows that high school and college are far different from each other. But,
what parallels can be drawn between the two? From childhood to adulthood, high school
allows you to gain a sense or glimpse of what it could be like an adult. On the other hand,
college is the time you fully undertake your responsibilities and take a course that you
really want to become. During my high school years I always got a high grades in all
subjects and I always make it to top performing students in our school so I don’t skip
classes and I treat all the subjects fairly because I have this thinking that it might affect my
grades. Being a high school achiever, I thought that I’ll ace every test in college and possible
I could be a Dean’s Lister, but as I experienced entering a college life I just realized that it is
not all about competing with your classmates or being the very best and make it to the top
10 just like high school. In college, you will become more mindful or your priorities in
studying and the thing you need to make first most especially if subjects involve are your
major subjects. In college, there are times that you will skip class so that you will finish
your project or studying for an upcoming exam on your other subjects. In college you must
be independent and learn to understand the lesson by yourself because the professors will
only facilitate the students and you are not anymore a high school student to be spoon-fed
in every lesson. In college, no one is monitoring your progress. No one is going to see if you
are going to class, and no one knows whether or not you’re doing your assignments
because you are responsible for your own academic progress. In college, you must be ready
for surprised quizzes and you must study ahead of time as possible. In college, you will
meet different people, can be a seatmate or block mate for months, yet you still don’t know
their names and you will have many group chats to come. Since college is way too different
from high school, college students feel depressed or have a conflict between their personal
and student life because they have the hard time coping with the new environment in
college. Being a college student, a lot of family gatherings will be missed because you
needed to make projects to meet the deadlines given by your professors. Sleep would be
lesser; it would be a great blessing to have at least 3-4 hours of sleep. You wanted to rest,
but cannot. In college you will be physically and mentally drained because of many things
to do in the same time.
College is the peak stage of our studies. As said by Josh Gonzales, it is an ocean. It’s
either you let yourself drowning or you’ll help yourself and swim. You will have many
realizations in college. If in high school you will be very happy when you’ll ace the test. In
college, passing the cut-off grade of 2.0 or 3.0 is already a victory especially to your major
subjects. Because in college “we do not seek for recognition, we are after survival. We don’t
treat our classmates as our rival, but rather, college is a battle between you and yourself,
and you and your degree. Will you be able to finish it or will it finish yourself?” As the
saying goes “the only permanent thing in this world is change”, we must learn to accept the
changes that we could encounter in our life. Like the high school and college life, it is way
too different; we must cope up with the changes we could experience. We must prepare
and brace ourselves for we do not know what’s going to happen. All we have to do is to
mature a little bit, become more responsible, know your priorities, have a time
management and be aware or mindful of what’s happening around you. In this, conflict
between your personal and student life won’t be greatly affected.
