It’s mid-December and the college admissions are rolling in. You just got your first acceptance letter and I’ve never been more proud. You’ve worked so hard for that crisp, eggshell-white “yes” that you got from the school you may see yourself in for the next four years. This should mean and does mean so much to you. It’s the tangible representation of the blood, sweat, and tears that have characterized your last four years of high school.

I just want you to remember that at this point, school isn’t everything. The grades, the tests, the homework have haunted your past four years but they’re not going to be your defining qualities. Enjoy senior year—the last basketball games, the last bonfires, the last time you will ever be with your friends in one place. Because the clichés are true. College weeds out who your real friends are and forces you to look at who you are as a person. So, before you have to undergo this reality check, enjoy everything high school has to offer you. It may feel incredibly fake, but it’s helped you become who you are now.

Next year, when you’re in your dorm room or your first lecture hall, the remnants of high school are the only things you’re going to have left. Those prom photo booth pictures and your cheerleading uniforms are all you’re going to have left to remind you of your high school experience. College is where you start completely over and this is your chance to reinvent yourself.

Enjoy being alone in your room with nothing but music blasting from your phone. Enjoy taking baths with our favorite LUSH bath bombs, the bathroom a heavenly sanctuary. Enjoy dinners with Mommy and Daddy. It’s not only the food you’re going to miss; you’re going to miss being around mature adults who just get you. Enjoy home. Enjoy your bed. These are things you are all going to take for granted as a freshman next year.

Lastly, I can’t tell you where you’re going to end up. You knew from the beginning—even when I didn’t—that I was going to end up at the University of Maryland, but I can’t say the same for you. You’re so bright and beaming with so much possibility, so much potential. You’re going to end up where you’re going to end up and the next four years of your life are going to be amazing.

Again, I’m so proud of you. I’m proud of the projects, the tests, the life experiences that you’ve gained so much from. Continue to do that. Continue to tackle life as one giant lesson because in college, when you’re forced to make decisions on your own, you’re going to need that intuition, that gut feeling. College is a completely different experience and with the skills you’re coming in with, I know you’ll do great. Good luck with everything and I absolutely can’t wait to witness the next four, beautiful, crazy, cheesy years of your life.

Love, Maris