The Real World

aka: Life After High School

Revised 2 July 2001

What is 'Real Life'?


At this point, you may be thinking, 'he must be going for the sarcastic opener in order to catch my attention'. Well, yes and no. I am certainly being sarcastic, but equally, each of the examples listed above is a distinct possibility. Unfortunately, those examples are ranked in order of probability (the first being the most probable). Well, perhaps the first example isn't as common among AcaDec students, but the second certainly is. Although I am joking about the fast food part (sort of), it isn't a very rosy picture is it?

Are you scared? Well you should be. It can't happen to you, right? WRONG. I was certainly not the most intelligent person on my AcaDec team, yet I am one of the few who actually graduated from college (Northern Arizona University).

You see, college is vastly different from what you are likely used to. No parents or teachers will be nagging you to do your homework. On top of that add parties, clubs, tons of fun things to do. Freedom is self-destructive. Why else would the United States need a government to regulate it? In college, you have to regulate yourself.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I was a model student. I pulled all-nighters because I had procrastinated on term papers, or because I didn't study enough for an exam before the last minute. I got side-tracked by the various wiles of college life (let's just say that I knew my mountain bike well and I've never been in better shape since then). But what separated me from those who failed is that, in the end, I did what had to be done, without having to be told to do so.

I have seen so many intelligent people drop out of college because they couldn't handle the freedom. Not only can you waste a lot of time by failing in college you can throw an awful lot of money away too. So now it's time for the emphatic plea . . .

PLEASE prepare yourself for what lies ahead of you. Do your homework early because you want to, not at the last minute because you have to. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have fun in college. College is a wonderful time to explore new things and have a good time, but don't treat it as just a big social club. If you do, you will be in for quite a shock when you start failing classes.

Remember that to the rest of the world, YOU are 'the other guy' that bad things always happen to.

If you want some advice on preparing for/dealing with college life, or if you want my advice on how to pick the right college, check out my college preparation page or feel free to e-mail me. I'll be glad to help you out in whatever way I can.