Seeing a lot of my friends post graduation pics and seeing my memories pop up on Facebook of my own graduation last year has helped me see that there are a few things I miss about high school. However, there are a lot of things that I don’t miss at all. For some people, high school was the worst experience; for others, they would go back in a heartbeat. I think I find myself in the middle ground. I enjoyed high school most days, but I’m also really glad to be done with it. That being said, here is my list:

What I miss:

• Sports- I miss playing soccer. I miss cheering on the sidelines. Playing sports was one of my favorite parts about high school. That’s definitely something I miss, especially game days.
• Friends- Don’t get me wrong, I love the friends I have made so far in college. They are great people, and make my life better. However, simply put, I’ve known my high school friends longer, and sometimes I find it easier to talk to people who have known me for more than a year. They just sometimes have a better understanding of me.
• Field Trips- They didn’t happen as much in high school, but we still had a few. I miss going to different places. I miss getting out of the classroom to give a more hands-on experience.
• Having classes with people I know- Even though I have only completed one year, I have already had a couple classes where I know maybe one person. I don’t really like that. I enjoy walking into classes where I know the majority, if not all, the people in there.
• Not having to study- I breezed through high school. I mean, I graduated as salutatorian, so I obviously did well. I could ace most subjects without really even trying. My senior year, the hardest class I took was AP Calculus (I’m still not sure why I took it. It’s not like it’s necessary for my major). However, when I actually understood it, it wasn’t hard for me. I knew I would probably have to study in college. There were times this past year that I couldn’t do things with my friends because I had to study or I had an early class.

That’s it. That’s seriously all I miss. 5 things… Here’s what I don’t miss:

• Drama!!!!!!!- There was so much petty drama in high school. I do not miss that AT ALL. There were so many times I got pulled into it. I wouldn’t start any of it. I would just get pulled in and forced to choose a side. I hated that so much and I’m so incredibly glad that it’s not really part of my life.
• Classes- Obviously I still have classes, but for the most part, they are involved in my major. Even the ones that aren’t necessarily in my major are interesting. (Like Music History, that class was absolutely amazing!) I only have to take one math class (or test out of it), two science classes (one is an Honors one though so pretty discussion-based), and no English classes since my test scores were high enough to get me out. College has given me a lot more freedom and enjoyment when it comes to classes.
• Having a set schedule- All three semesters that I have scheduled classes for (including this upcoming fall one) have had me finishing my day early afternoon three days a week. That’s so amazing to me. There were times this last semester where I could finish my classes on Friday and be in Indianapolis by 1:15 in the afternoon for the weekend or breaks. However, the other two days I was in class until 3:15, which is the time my high school classes ended, but I started a little bit later. This upcoming semester is the same way because there was only one section offered of a needed class.
• Being around people I didn’t like every day- I feel like people from my high school will read this and be like “But I thought she liked me!” So let me clarify: there were people I was close with, people I didn’t really know so I didn’t talked to them as much, and people I knew and did not really like. However, I can be nice and polite to anyone. If there was a problem with you, I probably would have told you. You just may not be compatible with my personality, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We just don’t see eye to eye. But in college, that’s not as much of an issue. There are definitely still people I don’t like, but I don’t have to be around them every day.
• Dress Code- I think I had a different dress code for every year of my high school, and I stayed at the same school!! That being said, having to look decent most days and having a stricter dress code has instilled in me the thought that I need to look nice. Second semester, I had my PFW class in the morning (basically a fitness/ P.E. class). Because of that, I would need to be in athletic wear for that class. It was so hard for me at first to put on sweatpants because it just didn’t feel right. I got used to it though, and it was nice to not have to look nice every day.
• So many rules- Some of the rules of my high school were kinda ridiculous, but we had to adhere to them. They didn’t make sense to me. I wasn’t a bad kid in high school; however, I knew how to find loopholes in the system.
• Being afraid of change- The high school I went to was extremely old-fashioned and was so afraid of new things, even if it didn’t make sense. For example, since I went to a really small high school, they actually told quite a bit about us at graduation, including all of the scholarships we received. Now, I had no problem with some of them, but they would talk about even the ones that we weren’t using for a different college. I questioned it to my class sponsor, and she was like “You know what? You’re right. That is pointless. Let’s change that.” Or other things like that.
• Homework- I mean, I still have homework in college, and that’s definitely not too enjoyable. However, high school homework was tedious to me. (College is too). However, I feel like high school homework, on average, took me longer because I had little interest in it.
• Time commitment- Between classes and sports, I usually wasn’t home until 6:30 or later. Then, I would come home, do homework, eat dinner, finish any homework, relax for a bit, shower, go to bed so I can do it all over again the next day. In college though, I can be done early, get any homework done, work-out, relax, and actually enjoy myself.
• Not having to ask permission/ excuse- It is so nice to be able to just get up and leave class to go to the bathroom, or arrive late, or even sometimes not show up (though that usually wasn’t intentional) without having to explain yourself or take away from class time.

Overall, (in case you didn’t notice), I think college is definitely better than high school. I’m glad to be done with high school (at least as a student).