Dear Freshman,

Hey there, what's up? It's your first year of college! That can be an exciting thing, but also a scary thing to think about. It's the first time you're going to be on your own. No one's going to be constantly reminding you about your homework or what you need to do.

Everything is now given to you in a packet that has all the dates of when to do things. From my personal experience, it will be difficult to hang out with or talk to your friends from high school because you're all busy and on different schedules. Once you start college, you're going to meet all different kinds of people. They are going to be people you didn't even know existed, with an array of different interests and thoughts. People will tell you their opinions and you'll either agree or disagree, but one for sure is that there's always something you'll have a similar opinion on, and the friendship will flourish from there!

The atmosphere of college is going to be different from what you're used to. There won't be bells or a certain lunch time given to you. The choice will be yours whether you want to go to class or want to eat. You'll see the consequences of your actions towards the end of your first semester.

Parties are going to be the "it" thing in college. People will talk about them and make a big fuss about it. But don't think everyone will want to go. You'll come across homebodies that would rather lay in their beds and not care to move all day. You'll stumble upon "Thirsty Thursdays." At first, you're going to feel like you have to be about that life, but soon enough, you'll get over it and see it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Overall, the most important thing to remember is to not lose yourself. It may not seem like you will, but you are going to at some point. But when that happens, it's important to not change for the worse, change for the better, because just like every other grown-up would say, it's important to change grades for good. You can't be anything or achieve anything if you aren't trying and being yourself.