Dear Seniors,

I know you have probably seen a couple of these floating around the internet, but there's some things that you should know. These past six months have truly made me mature. I feel as if high school was ages ago. It’s only been six months since I started college, and I already have forgotten the hallways that I walked every day. To be honest, I really don't miss it either. I miss how comfortable it was, how you were surrounded by people who wanted success for you and helped you along the way. I came to college without knowing how to do my laundry, having no clue to fend for myself and pretty much broke. It was a shock, it forced me to grow up and in the process, I learned a few things. I have learned to forget high school stereotypes. Honestly, throw them away, they are irrelevant. Nobody cares what you were like in high school. It's like you are meeting people for the first time all over again. No one cares that you were homecoming queen or cheer captain, nobody cares if you were creator of the robotics club, or the star runner. You get to start over in college, so be whoever you want to be.

It's OK if you mess up. No one is perfect, and you will make some bigmistakes your first year, but that's the point. You get to mess up and learn from it, do stupid crap and get it out of your system. Make sure you thank your roommate for all the times you come home late and for when she lets you eat her food.

My advice to you is to talk to the kids in class that you normally wouldn't, because some of my best friends now are people I would've never thought would be when I was in high school.

Quit being so harsh on yourself. You are pretty enough, you are smart enough and you are strong enough to go out on your own. Some of you may be super excited, ready to leave and be on their own, and that's awesome. But it gets old sometimes, and you miss your home, believe it or not. You want to come home to your family and dogs. So, spend as much time with them as you can, as well as with your high school friends. Just stop stressing. You'll be fine, and even after six months here, I still don't know what I’m doing. So live up your senior year and stop worrying about the future.

Sincerely,

A college freshman