During my time in college, I have had my share of disappointments. Why? I have constantly expected things that was not lined up with how college works. I understand that some of you are reading and asking yourselves, what is he talking about? I am talking about when you first step on a college campus and your exceptions are so high that you can barely wait until your college orientation, or move-in day during the summer after your high school graduation, or you are on social media talking about "when I get to college, I am going to do this or that," and when that day comes, you are let down significantly because it is not at all what you expected. The year before you are set to graduate high school, the "heavy lifting" of looking for a school that you plan to attend for four years and therefore, you want to look for the perfect school that has everything that your looking for good dorms, good food, cheap prices, good classes/professors, and it is located in a area that you can get used to college admission offices know what perspective students are looking for as well, and therefore, they try to make their school look like the "Perfect School," although they have more then their share of flaws. When you take that tour, apply to that school, get that acceptance letter, and walk onto campus for that first day, your exceptions are high only to get dashed because campus is not at all what you expect. In this article, i am going to share my experiences and this will tell you do not believe everything you read about colleges.

When I was looking over different colleges in my junior year of high school, I was dreaming about what my college experience would be like--more friends, good food, affordable prices, and professors who cared. I know a lot of people are reading this thinking that I was living in a fantasy world, and I was, to be honest with you. I was not thinking too much about reality. Reality didn't hit me until it was too late, meaning that I was not prepared for college and I did not have time to prepare myself. More on that later. When I was touring colleges I was constantly wide-eyed and expecting great things out of the four years that were ahead. When i stepped onto campus at West Chester University, I was so wide, they had everything from good food to chick-fi-la. Now mind you I was in high school and I was just happy to be apart of the older kids who were treated like adults. Now for the fun part: they led us to believe that we would be safe on campus, and that we had access to some of Philadelphia's best destinations. The best part was that it was affordable and now that I am older and did my own digging, I found that West Chester was not as safe as what people thought. West Chester University has a rating of a D+ according to american school search, and their biggest issues were burglary. These types of things, colleges do not tell you because mainly they want you to come to their school and they will do anything, to get you to come to their school.

I now understand what that means because I feel that I was told a few lies when I took my college tour and what was dreamed about and what was reality was totally different. The admissions department generally does not tell you how much you would be spending until you sign the final paperwork of being accepting their offer of being apart of the college community. When you study the brochure for your college of choice, you may see that there is a lot to do on and around campus, that fact will turn out to be false because, although some campuses are in the heart of city life, you are now taking the chance of something happening to you or your friends, because of all the crazy stuff that happens on campus that admissions that try to cover up to get more students. The other part is the food. The food looks so good, but when you actually taste it, you would want to barf because it is not at all what you expected it to be. Some students end up being sick off of the food because of the fact that they either undertook it or over cook it. Don't get me started on the dorms, because colleges seem to make it look like that you will have high-end living and fancy dorms and you will feel right at home, that is not the case at all, you have to be careful that you do not end up in the ugly dorms with bugs, and run dooms that college admission office pass off as five-star living.

So here are some tips before making that final decision...

1. Tour as many colleges as possible and as early as possible. If you can, start in your sophomore year of high school, in case you change your mind by senior year.

2. Do as much research as you can on your college of choice. Prices, environment, areas of study, professors, etc.

3. It maybe cheaper to attend college as close to home as possible. I'm not saying go to a two-year school (although there is nothing wrong with that). But in case you want to work and go to school, and do not like the dorms, you will be able to live at home.

4. Make sure you begin saving for college as early as possible because if not, you most likely will not be able to attend the college your heart desires. In my experience, there are a lot of things that i could have done differently and one of those things would have been applying for scholarships. It would have saved me the amount of loans that I had to take out later--I had to take out my share of loans during my seven years of school. I have learned that while in school, your past affects your future. If you start a trust fund for yourself for college expenses, I can assure you that life will be easier when you graduate college because you will not be in debt.

5. Make sure you have excellent time management skills, because as you probably know, you can officially be an adult in college. You don't have anyone breathing down your neck, so you can basically make your own rules. You don't have to report to anyone, but remember that with great power comes great responsibility. Make sure you balance your time wisely between your social life and your homework. I know a lot of people who tend to skip over homework and school work and go right to the party life. If you are a party animal or you know you are easily distracted, you may want to attend a smaller school or a school with a dry campus so you won't be inclined to attend a party when you know you have a paper due the next day.

I hope these tips will help readers who are thinking about their college options narrow down their results a little better. I want my readers to be able to have no regrets about their college choices and enjoy those four years somewhere in between being a child and a real adult.