High school students all across the country are getting ready to wrap up their school year. For seniors, 2017 will be their final year of secondary education. Seniors can now move on and begin to shape their own lives, whether that be through college, the military, or going straight into the workforce, or a combination of options. There are literally endless opportunities for these fresh-faced adults to succeed.

Unfortunately, many students may fall flat of their expectations, especially those who choose to go to college.

According to collegeatlas.org, 70% of Americans go to a four year college, but somehow less than two-thirds of them will actually graduate. Why is that?

There are many factors, of course, but a big contributor is the fact that young adults typically move away from their safety net to attend college. Whether they move ten minutes or ten hours, college students don't have their family or friends to motivate them to succeed. There is no one there to pick you up and brush you off after a failed attempt at something and tell you to go try again. There is no one there to nag at you to study, or keep you in to do homework instead of go out and party. It takes an independent, self driven student to successfully complete college.

This type of independence is severely lacking in today's society. So many parents hover over their children. Parents are the ones that force their students to do their homework, to study for that big test, and get good grades. Parents are the ones who say that one bad grade is okay, and to try something different next time.

This works wonders until the student moves out of the house and is no longer under mom and dad's jurisdiction. When a student never learns to deal with failure on their own, it can be very difficult to learn on the fly in college. This is a major contributor to students dropping out of college. Failure never feels as good as success, and when no one is there to tell you when or even how to study, it can be difficult to succeed.

So how can college students ensure that they will get their college degree in four or five years? By being a selfish as you can possibly be. Set a goal for yourself and be relentless in achieving that goal. If your friends want to go out on a Thursday night, but you have a test bright and early Friday morning, you need to be selfish and say no to going out.

Be selfish in taking advantages of every opportunity you can, even if that means competing against someone you know to get it. Take failures in stride, ask when you need help, and do not let up under any circumstances. This may be uncomfortable at times, yes, but in the end it will be worth it. It will feel amazing when you took the time to work your butt off and have your degree to show for it, while your friends who wanted to go out all the time do not.

Be selfish in the persuit of the things you want in life, no matter what those things may be.