Collingwood School’s motto is “preparing young students to thrive in meaningful lives.” For most students, a meaningful life starts with going to university. I have made various close relationships with many Collingwood graduates in the past year, and I wanted to offer their insight on the transitions from Collingwood to university life.
The first thought for most applying to university is to go to a Canadian university. The primary stereotype is that American schools are harder than Canadian schools. In reality they are of equal difficulty, but it depends on the student and how he or she applies themselves.
2014 Collingwood graduates Michael Mauro and Sean Garland said that there are three main areas of change: social life, education, and studying. In a recent interview with them, both described the first week before classes started as the most incredible experience of their lives.
“I never would have thought I could meet people from so many different countries within a week,” says Michael Mauro of his experience. It is evident that the social life at college is an amazing social life to have, and is something that high school students should look forward to.
This doesn’t mean that it isn’t difficult. As many high school students may be led to believe, college is one big party. According to Michael and Sean, it is the complete opposite. Sean explained that he “spend[s] more time awake studying than sleeping.”
Their advice was to “NOT take school lightly at any time, because if you take it lightly, then it will be an uphill battle the whole semester.”
Many Collingwood students decide to attend an American university. The college life in the United States is by far the most diverse experience according to a Collingwood graduate, Harrison Sekhon, who is attending Boston University: “I see people from five different continents every day just walking to my classes.”
Some venture to the United Kingdom for their post-secondary studies. Carlos Sheppard who goes to Imperial College as an engineer major says that he has enjoyed his time so far in the UK, stating that, “It has been the best experience of my life so far, but the schooling is very rigorous, and demanding. Also, one of the main differences is that the people here are interested in me because I have a Canadian accent.”
It seems that the similar pattern in the eyes of the interviewed are not to underestimate the amount of work put in, nor to expect college to be all about the partying.
To sum it up the boys concurred that College is going to be the most fun and educating experience of your lives. Most of your time is going to be spent studying, but that doesn’t go to say you cannot go out every once and a while. I think that what to learn from these interviews is that although the transition from Collingwood to college may be tough, in the end it will turn out to be the “college dream” that we all imagine so vividly.
I like to compare the transition to a roller coaster. It will have its ups, and its downs, but once we hit the height of both entertainment and education, there is no turning back.
By: jordan Mauro