True, I mean the fact that I was using an advanced P&S which gave me more control than a standard P&S would helped me understand all of the different aspects of photography. My sister has a DSLR and last time she came to visit, I borrowed it and pretty much knew how to use it and what to adjust, whereas she didn't know anything about it since she took all of her pics on auto.
Oh I'm definitely not knocking P&S cameras. I love mine, especially because I know how to control my shots. Plus the fact that I was able to get such high praise in my class against the other students, who had really great shots themselves, speaks to how well mine holds up in comparison.
But what I'm saying is that I haven't been happy with the quality overall lately when I compare similar shots with others, and its mostly because of the limit I have with depth of field and how I always have trouble in darker areas. With that said, I don't usually like to use flash and I can definitely use more practice with that. But I think my issue with my photos have been with how "flat" the subject looks in comparison to the background, and I think I may need to start changing my focus settings.