From High School to College

You’ve just begun attending university, and as you finally get to your class, you can’t help yourself from comparing everything around you to high school: the class size, the format, the students, all of it is so new. Your professor asks a question to the class, and as he calls on you, the class goes dead silent and everyone’s eyes become fixated on you. After finally managing to get an answer through, another student raises their hand. Maybe what you said was wrong? 

Shockingly, the student not only agrees with you, but adds onto your idea. One after another, students raise their hands and you feel a wave of relief wash over you. 

For 18-year-old Aileen G. M. Cabrera, a former Mission Chronicle staff member and student who began college at San Francisco State University this fall, this moment early on made her feel like she belonged. Over time she learned the difference between high school and university, and adjusted to this new environment.

Aileen is very active. She loves to paint, go out with her youth society, and play guitar in her church. She also loves to be around children and she’s even thinking about majoring in social work or early childhood education. “I just think it’s absolutely amazing how they [children] grow and how they capture various moments,” Aileen says. 

Her time at Mission High School wasn’t spent just sitting around; and although she admits she wasn’t the most popular or social person, she ended up being the emcee of not just one, but two assemblies, made the morning announcements on the loudspeaker, participated in student government, sold food, and even TA’d in the main office. She reflects that:“[High school] was just really fun.” She loved her time in high school, but she was also really excited for college.

Transitioning from high school to college isn’t easy, but the Metro Program is what helped Aileen out the most. She says that at orientation, “there were so many students struggling to choose their classes, while I had already had the classes that they [Metro] gave me.” 

Metro is an SF State Program based out of the College of Ethnic Studies whose mission is to increase equity and excellence in college completion. It helps you for the first two years at SF State, giving you general education classes, which are easier to handle for your first two years, and providing tutoring, mentorship, individualized planning, long term peer support and even financial aid.

Mission High School also does a good job preparing students for college, however Aileen mentions the workload increases as you go into university: “I’m just trying to get used to how many hours I have to study, because I wouldn’t really do that after school in high school.” Fortunately, the difference between high school and college isn’t all negative, as Aileen remembers, “People would always tell me there’s a lot of freedom in college, and I can definitely feel it.” This newfound freedom in college would be a breath of fresh air from protective parents, which I’m sure lots of us can relate to. 

She mentions that there’s no bell, no one rushing you to get to class, lots of events all over campus, people talking, music playing, and there’s no drama. In her opinion, college isn’t that hard, it’s just how you take it. Teachers are chill, you pick your classes, and she even says, “It’s like they, the teachers, would be like one of us.” 

Aileen walked into her class excited, nervous, scared, and unsure of what the future would hold, but ever since that day she raised her hand and was validated, she knew that she was right where she belonged.