[Kate*]

Hey Ally, college planning is intimidating when you know what you're doing so I can only imagine how overwhelming it is when no one has explained it to you!

What college is like depends on a lot of things. If you did okay in high school there won't be much of a difference in terms of difficulty of the work, but it's your job to learn the material and turn assignments in on time. In other words the professors won't sit on or nag you to get stuff in and most of them won't accept late work except in very rare extreme circumstances.

How many classes you have highly depends on your major, but every college has "core" or "general" courses that everyone needs no matter what and then you add your major credits on to that. You can take as many or as few as you're comfortable with at a time. Full time undergraduate students (earning a bachelors or 4 year degree) usually take between 12 and 18 credits so between 3 and 6 classes a semester depending on their workload tolerance and other commitments to work, family, etc.

Whether or not you live there depends on the school, how close you live to it and/or how much you're willing to pay for your education.

If you don't know what you want to do I would strongly suggest starting at a community college, you can get the general requirements out of the way without having to pay an arm and a leg at a 4 year school and then you can transfer somewhere that has a program that interests you. It will also keep you in school so you won't lose the rhythm of the school year and have to readjust. Also, community colleges will take applications even a few days past the start of the semester so you haven't run out of time just yet. Most people don't know exactly what they want to do so you're in good company there. Keep in mind that helping professions sometimes require master's degrees too, but don't let that intimidate you.

I hope this helped, if you have any more questions feel free to ask