Need advice for going to college

[KevinM1]

The only thing I'm worried about is traveling. I like to travel a lot and I know that if I am going to college all year and working then I won't be able to travel at all

Universities have holidays, too. Plenty of them.

And one thing to remember-- except for exams, attendance at university isn't mandatory at all. You could make arrangements to borrow a classmate's notes, and talk to your profs before your trip to see if there are any important assignments coming up.

I don't agree with universities having plenty of holidays. The one I went to - UNH - did not. It was usually just 2-3 days for Thanksgiving and a week long spring break sometime in the last couple of weeks in April. That said, the break between fall and spring semesters was about a month long (mid-December to mid-January), and the summer break even longer (mid-May to early September). Of course, UNH was said to stand for the University of No Holidays rather than the University of New Hampshire, so my experience may not be the norm.

I do agree that for the vast majority of undergrad classes, the professors don't care if you attend. What matters are assignments and exams. Unlike high school, your grade in any particular class will be based on only 3-5 things total in most cases. So, there's no bombing a test or doing a shitty job on a paper and still getting an A. That's where the pressure comes in. Assignments and exams cover a lot of material and represent a big chunk of your grade. And in my experience, make up exams or assignments are usually granted only in cases of emergency.

But, yeah. The general assumption is that students are adults who will figure out their time management and do the work. Their success at that is reflected in their grades.