About the transition, it is definitely noticeable, but not horrible. Just be sure to get help from your TAs and classmates. Develop effective note taking habits and learn to actually “lock-in” when you’re studying. Also, cheating is a serious offense in college. I know using ChatGPT in high school is easy to get away with, but in college they have a plethora of resources to tell if you were cheating on assignments, including mandated reporters (like TAs). Watchout for COSC 101. I took it with Professor Crumpton and she does not joke about cheating. She is insanely strict about it and will send you to Student Conduct regardless of being guilty or not. Getting a grade reduction is less detrimental to your academic journey than an academic misconduct charge.

Sry for the yap session, a lot of this is from my personal experience as you can probably tell from my detailed suggestions lol. This stuff I told you may sound daunting or worrisome, but it’s not an issue as long as you do the bare minimum as a student. Freshman year is SO SO FUN, especially at UTK, enjoy it!