“What will be one of the hardest things about going to college?” is a question we ask our parents, older friends, and high school counselors in hopes of preparing ourselves as rising college freshman. Upon coming to college, I received many answers to this question. Some said it would be the difficulty and amount of schoolwork. Exams, projects, and learning that professors are not as personable as they were in high school. Others claimed that making friends, navigating the social scene, and developing good, strong judgment when choosing your closest friends would prove to be the most challenging. Many said it would be finding activities you are passionate about to devote your time to, along with finding a career path you wish to pursue for the rest of your life. And of course, among the most difficult, would be moving to a completely new area, leaving behind the comfort of your close family and friends.

As a second semester freshman, I can confidently say that I don’t think any of these things proved to be the most difficult thing about being in college. Rather, I think it’s all of these things. The hardest part of college is that all the struggles I mentioned are completely true, and you must learn to deal with all of them simultaneously, every single day of your life. The hardest part about college is balance.

In college, there are so many opportunities to take advantage of. There are cool classes, hard classes, new people, hundreds of activities to try, and the freedom of being able to truly make your own choices. There is no “right” way to do college, and everyone’s experience is completely unique. You can take any path you want. While this ambiguity and freedom are what make the college experience so appealing and exciting, it also can make things overwhelming and difficult at times.

Learning to balance all the excitement, stress, and other things that come along with being in college is the most difficult thing and the most important thing. But becoming a well-rounded individual is one of the most important things to achieve upon entering the real world, after college. So if I could go back in time and tell my first-semester self what the most difficult thing of college would be: it would be balance. And if I could have told myself the skill I will most need to develop: it would be balance. You can’t do it all, and it’s important to put your priorities in line and keep yourself accountable for what is most important to you. Wanting to join and be a part of every club and activity I come across, balance proves to be an everyday struggle for me — a skill I am constantly working on. So my advice to rising freshman would be to get ready to be faced with many exciting, yet stressful things all at once. And get ready to learn to balance it all.