Senior Vendela Chan has more college experience than most other seniors; she was attending school through the Richland Collegiate program, a program for students who want to finish their last two years of high school and receive college credit as well. Although she got many of her credits taken care of through the program, Chan noticed major differences and missed going to high school.

 “The campus was so big,” Chan said. “It was kind of intimidating. A bunch of college people judge you. It makes me feel like they think you’re stupid.”

 Students were asked what career they wanted to pursue, but did not get to choose all their classes, instead choosing only one or two themselves. Students were required to turn in all of their assignments online. Many bought laptops for their own convenience, but Scantrons were the only supplies they were required to purchase themselves.

 “It sounded pretty good,” Chan said. “I mean, two years of college – for free. You don’t have to pay for books or anything.”

 Although the students had a little extra cash, Chan did not see everything as a plus. Students were required to be in school for a certain number of hours each day and occasionally had to endure long lunch breaks instead of leaving early. Also, every grade earned was counted twice, once for their high school transcripts and once for their college transcripts.

 “We didn’t have much of a high school life,” Chan said. “The teachers treated us kind of like remedial students. After one semester I wanted to go back to my old high school.”

 Chan stuck with the program for a year and a half. She learned early on how different college was than high school, what with professors just walking out of the room, college creeps, and more difficult tests.

 “The tests were all cumulative and asked very precise questions we never got from the lesson,” Chan said. “They want you to pick out stuff yourself.”

 Chan also missed the more social aspects of high school life. There were no clubs for students to join or projects to be presented to the class. She just learned to take sufficient notes from lessons and turn in every assignment online except for the final.

 “It’s really weird,” Chan said. “Everything’s online; when it comes to your final, you take that on paper and it’s at school.”

 Now that she’s back in a regular high school, Chan is involved in theatre and dance. She still takes notes on her laptop and has decided not to attend another community college in the future.

 “Community college is not going to get me anywhere,” Chan said. “I think I want to go to UTA for nursing and then Southwest Medical Center for medical school. I want to be a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital.”