At the time, choosing where to college can seem like the biggest decision you've ever made. Do you want to go to a big or small school? Public or private? East or West coast?

Maybe one of the hardest questions to answer is whether or not you want to go to school far away from home. You might want all the freedom of being away at college but still worry about being so far from your family. Nonetheless, I challenge you to at least think about leaving home for college. You never know — it could be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.

Leaving home for a college with new people and surroundings can be really stressful at first.

You feel like you’re just thrown into the thick of things, and you have no idea what you're doing.

You’re forced to meet more people and make new friends because you can’t rely on your friends from high school anymore.

You also have to learn how to be responsible for yourself without the help of Mom and Dad.

You will get extremely homesick and miss your parents, friends, and especially, your dog.

But you slowly start to get the hang of how things work in college.

You realize that you get to explore somewhere new for at least four years, and you begin finding all the cool local spots.

The people in your hall that you awkwardly introduced yourself to the first week of school have now become your family away from home, and they’re always there for you (maybe because you live with them).

You don’t feel confined to acting like the person people thought you were in high school, and you feel free to try new things in this new place.

You’ll finally get some much needed space from your parents, but they’re still just a phone call away when you need them.

You remember that it’s not every day that you get the chance to live somewhere new and have a completely different experience.

And no matter how long you’re away, home will always be there waiting for you.