The time of the year has arrived again. Seniors in high school rave all over their social media accounts about how excited they are about graduating high school and finally leaving for the next step in their lives. Juniors tend to be thankful that such a stressful year has ended and sometimes wish they could graduate this year, just to get out of high school. While it can be understandable why graduating high school students feel the way they do regarding their upcoming graduation of high school, there is an unfortunate reality that strikes many of these people which can leave them shell-shocked about how things will be very different in their lives after high school graduation. What may have been the norm for you in high school, now it may not work the same way in college. Too many unrealistic expectations from one's high school experience can tarnish one's college experience. So please be aware that your really high expectations about college might not work even if they did work out for you in high school.

For starters, there seems to be a perception in high school that students have a simple task in the methods of how they perform well in the gradebook. Just do all of the homework, maybe even just write down random answers you know are not right on the homework due to a lack of motivation for completing the work, or maybe you are way too busy to do the work correctly. Turn in the assignment, and still receive full credit for completion, edge it out for a couple of tests and papers, beg your teachers for extra credit and/or opportunities to raise your grade from those subpar test scores and/or missing assignments at the end of the semester, and then BOOM! Your blemishes you may have otherwise had on your final transcript have disappeared after all of that. Seemingly, there is always that one teacher/class everybody talks about in high school where you can just show up, not do much studying, and still wind up with that "well-deserved" A as your final grade because either the class is effortless, or more commonly, you have that one teacher who will always give their kids the best grades all due to their amazing amount of flexibility they provide their students with in terms of edging them up in the gradebook. By no means am I saying this is how every high school student strategizes about acheiving high grades. Neither am I saying that the students implementing this strategy of taking an easier course load, where they are well aware of how flexible the teacher of that class is in the gradebook are dumb, underperforming students. Most students probably do have at least one teacher in high school whom will never hurt their grade and fix it for them at the last minute. What I am telling graduating high school seniors is not to expect your college professors to be as easy and/or as flexible with their grade distribution. Professors actually will perceive you as a mature adult. Which in turn means they will expect you to actually study, do all homework and reading assignments to the best of your ability, and take your own responsibility for asking for extra assistance in the classroom for when you need it if you are legit serious about walking out of that class with an A. Part of the reason I believe there are a great chunk of college students reaching levels of unbearable levels of overwhelment and stress come finals time every December and May is due to many of these students having teachers in high school who make it very easy to get a higher grade, let alone pass the class, when they needed an extra boost from their teachers to give those students that grade they felt entitled to. With the provision of a previous frightening experience of grade on the edge turning out just fine in their favor thanks to their generous teachers, high schoolers may start getting a sense that in college, they can get away with that strategy yet again. Harsh truth is that will not be true about your college classes even though it may have worked out successfully for you in high school. Professors actually will perceive you as a mature adult. Which in turn means they will expect you to actually study, do all homework and reading assignments to the best of your ability, and take your own responsibility for asking for extra assistance in the classroom for when you need it if you are legit serious about walking out of that class with an A. Any class you take after high school graduation, be prepared to work harder for that grade you want to earn. You will not have the luck to get away with anything your professors do not believe you deserve if you did not work hard enough and have a list of missing assignments on the gradebook. This is something I want to warn graduating high school seniors about because you will have to work even harder than you did in high school for excellent academic performance.

Next off, I would like to continue this article about the sad truth about your social life regarding your current friend groups and if applicable, your relationship with your current boyfriend or girlfriend. If you are like me, then your high school friends mean the world to you (and always will, even after high school is long done). You may also perceive that no distance will ever stop your friendship. While that most likely will be true, unfortunately, it will not be as close of a long-distance friendship as you may think it will be. Some people move on with their lives after high school. Ranges of how your friends may move on could be maybe as little as them not communicating and/or visiting you as you originally did or had planned, to possibly moving in from high school entirely relocating from your hometown for good with a move to their college town or maybe even another part of the country far away from your childhood playgrounds. Even your acquintences or small friends you had from high school might surprisingly choose to cut ties with you by unfollowing you on social media, ultimately effectively ending any sort of communications as they aim to rebuild their own lives by getting rid of the old. Effects of having a friend move on from high school or maybe not communicating and/or visiting you as originally planned are quite tough to handle at times because it honestly sucks when you are separated from your high school best friends. These are people that should have been your best friends forever, and you now have very little, or maybe no control over how you can continue your friendship. Keeping my ultimate empire of well over 100 of my high school friends and football teammates stable and in order was something I believed I could do easily in my first year of college. I was (and by some still am) deeply beloved as a person by these people. Unfortunately, I have experienced the shock of some of my friends made the decision of wanting to move on from a majority of their high school friends. Sadly, if you have a lot of great friends you know from high school, your friend group. in some way will inevitably collapse as you will find out some of these people want nothing to do with their old high school friends that maybe they were not super close with. Tasks regarding keeping my empire of numerous high school friends all throughout college ended up being much more difficult than I thought it was going to be about a year ago. Bottom line is to not expect everyone you are friends with right now still wanting to be a part of the picture in your life once college begins. However, I do encourage all readers to make an effort to stay in touch with their old high school friends due to the impact and fun times you once had on their respective lives. Just do not expect your friendships to be as dominant and close as they once had been entering college.

Dating in high school may have been amazing for some. Finding a true love in your life so early feels amazing. Entering senior year, you may have been dating one person for the last two years (maybe earlier), always posting pictures with them on social media saying how much you love them. Personally, I never truly dated in high school. Of course, I know a lot of people that dated the same person throughout a good chunk of high school, even a few started dating as early as the eighth grade. I always loved seeing their relationship progress as the years went by believing nothing would ever stop these two from being together, despite being separated miles away from each other at different colleges in a matter of months. If you are a graduating high school senior in an intimate relationship, I really hope you can, and please try to, keep together throughout college. Unfortunately, as much as I hate saying this, things probably will not end smoothly. Even if you do manage to keep your high school dating relationship together in college, you are going to run into some problems keeping it together. Most of the couples that dated at my high school graduation a year ago have now broken up for good as they decided go in their separate ways. If you are going to be attending the same college as your significant other, your relationship is by no means completely safe. I have seen a few couples I knew from high school attend the same college as the other and yet, they still could not get things to work out for the long-term. Even for the few high school couples from my senior class that have remained together, it has been a series of breaking up and then getting back together again after deeply talking things out. You may not be aware of it now, but you might have gotten yourself in love way too fast and just like some of my friends, that will be something many high school seniors will learn the hard way.

Lastly, I will point out what your relationship with your high school will fare. There are always going to be some people (like me) who just absolutely loved high school and miss it dearly. Sure, you can always go back and visit your old stomping grounds to catch up with your teachers or watch athletic events of the team(s) you used to cheer for or play on. While many high schools are cool with recently graduated alumni coming back for visits every now and then, nothing will ever feel the same about visiting compared to the days when you used to attend (and maybe even live) your now alumni matter. Sure, teachers love seeing their favorite alums come in for a visit or maybe even come in to help their class out by talking about their experience from college courses in the same subject. Coaches and players do appreciate seeing alumni of their respective teams cheering in the stands continuing their support of their program. And if you are lucky enough, you might be able to attend just one more high school dance if you meet the requirements to be a non-student guest as the date of a current student. However, nothing feels the same about coming back to high school as an alumni compared to when you were a student. As a student, you had access to do just about anything. Now that you are not techinically a student, you will not feel as privileged as the students are because you are now only a visitor. It is nice returning back to high school no question. However, nothing feels the same about visiting as an alumni because you are no longer the one to dominate those hallways. The harsh reality is that for many, nothing will feel the same way again about coming back to high school.

Post-grad problems and issues are commonly attributed with recent graduates of college, but do not believe post-grad problems only strike college grads. Many high school grads need to be more aware of the reality of the new shakeup of what life after receiving that diploma is truly like for the sake of avoiding unrealistic expectations about what they may perceive post-graduation life to consist of.