Fresh-Out-of-High-School to College

The meaning of writing this blog is to point out the change that Inuit students usually experience when they come to college from high school (up north).  It comes to be a challenge for most Inuit students when they come to College as the Education system is really low up north.  Those who come to college jump to a high new level of education.

In college, each semester lasts 15 weeks.  Those who come to college get five-to-eight courses a week depending on which program they are in.  Some courses last one and a half hours and some last three hours long.  Some classes start at 8:30 in the morning and some classes last until 5:30 in the evening.  It is important for a college student to attend all, if not, most classes.  In all courses, there is a limited number of courses you can skip depending on which courses you are taking.

One simple, but difficult change that an Inuk student experience is the size of class.  In high school (up north), classes are as small as 10 to 15 students whereas in college, each class can total up to 30 to 40 students.

The workload in college is much more heavier than in high school up north.  Students are required to: take notes in classes and study them at home, write essays, write journals, write quizzes, do a presentation and tests that can be worth 30%.  Last, but not least, students are required to read books that are given in classes.

Homework...  Homework is really important.  You may not realize it up north, but in college, homework is the key point to getting marks in college.  It is really important to do homework in every class.  Even some Phys. Ed. classes assign homework.  There are due dates for every homework and deadlines need to be respected.  You do the homework, you get marks.  You don't do any homework, you don't get marks.  You give in an assignment late, you lose marks.