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Austin Woodside
Professor Kellner
ENGL 1000
8 October 2015
Transition from High School to College
Life as a high school student transitioning to a college student was a big change for me.
The thought of leaving my home town of Mason, Ohio was kind of difficult to handle. Not only
did I leave the city that I grew up in for 11 years, but I also left my friends and people that I spent
most of my life with. Everything seemed foreign to me once I moved out to Amelia. Roads were
hard to navigate, and I had no idea who the people were that I came in contact with when I
would go to stores or even pass in the gym. A couple of months after I graduated I found a job at
Finish Line, and it seemed like everything started falling into place. Shortly after working at
Finish Line for about a month, I met new co-workers and became friends. Eventually I began to
fit in with the people around me, and it wasnt as uncomfortable. Through most of my life I
havent really been open to change, but after moving out here my perspective is different, and I
have come to know that Everything is possible(Rodinone).
When August rolled around my life took a turn. I had officially become a UC Clermont
student and I noticed that I would have to be as productive as possible and manage my time
better. I also became interested in meeting new students on campus and felt more comfortable
with my new environment. Life as a college student has made me aware that its much different
than high school because no one controls what I do anymore. I am basically on my own to make
myself a successful student while making good decisions. Ive learned that there needs to be
motivation because it is very easy to slack off when there is no one pushing me to get work done.

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I have also noticed that in college every assignment is crucial, unlike high school when I was
given multiple chances to save my grade.
In, Open Admissions and the Inward I, Peter I. Rondinone describes how he went
from a juvenile delinquent to a college student. He was never supported by the people around
him in getting an education. He soon realized that he needed to cut some relationships to
succeed. He realized that he had to make changes to become a better student overall. All the
years of hard work paid off, he graduated from college successfully, and became an
accomplished journalist. Like Rondinone I had to leave old friends, and make better learning
habits. On campus the students are diverse and very sociable, which I think is cool because there
are not as many cliques. If there are no cliques involved it makes it easy to make new friends and
create small study groups
Professors are not as lenient as teachers were in high school, and they do not accept
students who act immature. This is awesome for someone like me because I want to be in
professional environments and where there are few distractions so that its easier to learn. At UC
Clermont, the professors go into more detail when explaining certain concepts, making it simpler
to remember, when it comes time to take a test. I can remember that this was not the case in high
school because there would be times when I would pay attention to every word that the teacher
said, but then questions would come up on the test that I never had an answer for because it was
never taught or wasnt something that the teacher went over enough to understand.
Something else that I have encountered in college is learning that note taking in your
courses can be important so as not to forget about what was taught earlier that day. Looking at
Blackboard regularly is important because its easy to get side-tracked and forget about what was
taught earlier that day. Blackboard is also useful for keeping track of due dates and turning in

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assignments online. Sometimes this can be your best friend because if you dont want to
procrastinate, you can go ahead and work on things ahead-of-time and turn them in early. In
high school we had something similar to Blackboard called, Edline. It was Masons online
program that students used to check grades, take tests, study, and complete assignments.
Before college I was nervous about presenting in front of class, but now after doing it on
a normal basis, I have come to realize that it is not so bad because students and professors at UC
Clermont make you feel welcomed to learn by taking risks. Although Im used to presenting,
there are still some occasions when I get stressed out by over thinking the situation. My
experience in math class is a good example of this because our professor expects us to get up in
front of the class and present a math concept for 15 minutes, which is hard for me because I get
anxious about presenting.
An important lesson that I took away from Mason, was to keep pushing forward when
school work got hard and to seek help if needed because it is my responsibility. Through my first
couple of months in college I have seen where most professors mindsets are that we operate
under the assumption that students know how to do it- or if they dont, theyll flunk out and its
their problem (John Gardner). Being a college student means taking more accountability for
myself and sometimes that involves going out of my comfort zone.
Welcome, Freshmen!, by McGrath, Ellie et al. (2001) , describes the transition of
freshmen in college. The transition from high school to college is sometimes the most difficult
time for teenagers. There are studies being done based on students who successfully graduate
from college. Studies showed that students are dropping out of college within the first year, due
to the lack of help and support. As a result, universities have been finding ways to guide students
in their courses and campus life style, by creating various learning resources. After implementing

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the recommendations of the studies, researchers found that the success rate is better by 3% to
10%.
My determination for perfection has greatened because most of my professors are hard
graders. If I ask questions in class and get to know my professors, then it makes things less
stressful and I am more willing to work hard knowing that they are here to see me succeed and
grow as a novice. A helpful resource on campus that I have used to help avoid bad grades is a
program created by UC called The Learning Center. I try to take advantage of this as much as
possible. Over the last month I have seen good results from being a participant because all my
misunderstanding gets cleared up, and in the process I obtain information to become an active
learner.
I feel more confident as a student now that I am at UC Clermont. I am not as shy to
participate in class discussions or ask questions. In Mason I was always afraid to join in on class
discussions or even talk in class because we had over 30 people in one room. Having so many
kids made it hard to get the teachers attention because I always felt like I had to compete with
other classmates in a hand raising battle to just get a question answered.
Making the transition from Mason to Clermont is good all the way around in my opinion.
The campus is not too big, and its easy to find your way around. Being in small classes is an
advantage. My experience here has gone well. Since high school, my learning techniques have
improved and I have been able to follow along with the topics covered in class. Like I said
earlier, I finally feel like I fit in at Clermont, and thats really all that I can ask for. I guess change
is not so hard for me after all.

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I decided to use this picture because it really works best for mine and Rondinones life.
We both had to leave part of our past and adventure out to make ourselves successful. Based off
of both of our stories its pretty clear to see that we both had to make transitions.

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Works Cited
Rondinone, Peter. Open admissions and the inward I Thinking Critically. Ed. John Chaffee.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. 281-290. Print.
McGrath, Ellie, and Richards, Constance E. Welcome, Freshman. Time, 10 Sep. 2001: 64-3.
EBSCOhost. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.