The school work on its own isn't very hard but it's just a lot of WORK. You need to stay on top of your game and take things head on. High school procrastination is definitely something that you cannot carry on with you once you start college. Everyone says that your first semester of college isn't really a big deal. False. Although the first semester of your college career may not be a big deal in actuality, it really hits the core when you find out close to finals week that you're failing more than half of your classes because you slacked off after attending the first two days of classes, deciding that it wasn't necessary to attend lectures that were not mandatory. However, even if your professors say that classes are not mandatory, I beg of you - go to class! By going to class, talking to the TAs, asking questions, and visiting office hours, professors will know you by name and may even bump you up a decimal of a point or two at the end of the year if you're on a borderline grade. I may sound like another repetitive professor in the classroom, but trust me. I just got done with my first semester of college and boy, did it hit hard.
But it really isn't all about books, books, books. Sure, you're going to hear every single student in the library cafe talking about their mind-boggling with new ideas and the struggle of figuring out what they want to major in when they're done 3/4 of their college career. And then you'll see those kids who just hang around the Commons the whole time in the Game Room or Sportszone but pass all their classes. My point being here is this--whether you work your lazy little butt off or your smarts are inked in to your genes, you can do it while having fun. There isn't much competition between peers and friends are easy to make. With so much diversity, it would be impossible not to make friends. Then when the time comes to skip a class because of a family emergency and you send out a mass email to the class roster for the notes you missed, you can count on getting a handful of replies that supply you with more notes than you could have ever even imagined of taking.
UMBC is a very career-oriented school. if you come in with a path set in mind, it will be that easier for you to get your requirements done. But for those of us who still aren't sure what we want to do with our lives or haven't even begun to think about it, well, that is where general graduation requirements come in. You can take any gen ed. classes that you like your first semester of college if you aren't sure of what to take. Or you can do the basic math, science, english, and humanities class. But of course, if you're the plan ahead type of guy or girl, you may already be able to get into Biology141, Chemistry101, Math150, and a linguistics course which is what I did seeing as I am majoring in Major Languages and Linguistics while on the Pre-Med track.
Oh, yes. The pre-med track. For all of you pre-professional students out there who want to go into pre-law, pre-vet, pre-dentistry, pre-pharmarcy, or pre-med, hear me out. You DO NOT need to major in a science related field to go pursue a career in any one of these fields. You can major in photography or music or english and still become a world renowned cardiologist. Your major defines YOU. Your pre-professional track only guides you to the classes that you will be required to have completed in order to apply to your school after undergrad--in my case, Medical school.
I know this is a lot to take in, especially if you're a senior in high school right now and have no idea what to do with your life. But taking it one step at a time and with the help of the people around you, you will master it all. College is just the game. Life itself is the real thing. This is just the beginning.