Transitioning into a new phase of life is never easy. So far in my short span of 18 years on this planet, this single transition from a high school student to a university student has been the most grueling one. But at the same time, as street poet Wiz Khalifa once said, “it ain’t no gain without bein’ no pain”. Transitioning into university life has its fair share of pros and cons, and I would like to talk about my personal experiences and opinions in this article. 

 

Since I am more of a “glass half-empty” person, I will start with the cons. 

 

First, the workload in university is incomparable to that of high school. The amount of reading, writing and projects, easily outweigh those of high school. Yes, although I admit I mostly read my required readings on Shmoop throughout high school, when I say I read more in the first week of university than four years of high school combined, I’m not joking. 

 

Second, although you early birds won’t be able to relate, waking up in the morning by yourself is extremely hard. As a certified night owl myself who regularly sleeps at 4, waking up at 9 by myself is harder than I ever imagined. Whenever I wake up and look at the big, shameful 12:30 on the clock, I desperately miss my mom, who brawled with me every morning to wake me up. Also, to end this section, I would like to send my most earnest respect to everyone who takes 8:30 classes.

 

Lastly, the struggle of being the youngest bunch is real. Just a few months ago, I was still the oldest bunch in high school, walking in the hallway with confidence and dominance as if I was the reincarnated King Arthur. Unfortunately, now I’m the youngest bunch once again. Instead of King Arthur, I now walk like Dobby from Harry Potter, always intimidated and clueless. So please don’t be surprised if an intimidated, clueless-looking boy called Brandon suddenly comes up to you and asks you how to get to Chi Wah. 

 

But of course, as mentioned before, there are definitely some gains in this new phase of life. 

 

First, the amount of free time I realized I have in university is surreal. Unlike high school, where I had 5 classes every day, I now have 5 classes every week. What about the remaining time? I can do whatever I want. If I want a high GPA, I can camp at Chi Wah 24/7. If I want to become a fitness model, Jockey Club gym is always there for me. Heck, if I want to become an LKF legend, I can go to LKF every night, though my liver probably wouldn’t be too happy about that. 

 

Also, I finally get to choose what classes I want to take. For the first time in 18 years, I don’t have to sob while solving an algebra question or doze off into an abyss while reading Hamlet. There is an abundance of options in university – and that’s good. Who knows, one day you might fall in love with gang culture after watching Godfather. If so, in HKU, you can take a course called SOCI2054 Triads and Organized Crime and develop your romantic relationship with gang culture from there. 

 

Last but not least, although this is cliché and overly said, the social circle in university is much broader than that of high school. In high school, you’re mostly stuck with the same group of people for years. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it is true my social circle was rather narrow. Meanwhile in university, you meet new people every day. You’ll get to learn about their culture which is always good in this globalized world. 

 

To be frank, the university life so far has been rather underwhelming. In high school, I was filled with fantasies about university, thinking that it is a euphoric place of unicorns and radiant rainbows. I was wrong. University has forced me to become more realistic and practical, which is far away from the dream that I envisioned. 

 

Yet, if I think about it, the “blame” is mostly on me. If I really wanted a magical experience in university, I should’ve applied to Hogwarts instead HKU. Though this transition is often times tough, this challenge (hopefully) will help us freshies develop into more mature and successful human beings. 

But for real though, I really do think 88 pages of reading is a bit too much.