A small list of things to keep in the back of your mind.
- Everything is going to change.
- Some things are going to be a lot harder to adjust to than others. It is just how it will be, whether the workload changes, friends change or your whole life.
- How you handle change.
- How you handle all of the above will either make you or break you. (I’m sorry it’s true, but don’t worry most people adjust relatively well). I went 2,000+ miles away for college and I learned more about who I am in the first year of college than I ever did in high school. How you handle being on your own will either force you to grow up and make you independent or you will not adjust well and most likely leave.
- If you do decide the school isn’t for you-- it’s okay to not like where you are.
- If you figure out you don’t like your major or your college or even the path in life you are taking, it is okay to leave the school or degree and change it. It is your life and you need to make tough choices, especially if something isn’t working out as planned.
- It’s your life.
- It’s your life; it’s your grades. Meaning if you want a social life and you want a degree, you need to learn how to handle both. That means if you want to do fun things and get good grades—you need to learn how to time manage. It’s your life, not your parents or your friends (I highly recommend you invest in an agenda book).
- Being Independent
- Your health and your grades is your job. What you eat, if you work out and if you pass a class is on you. This isn’t high school, some of your professors don’t care if you pass or fail, they don’t care if you don’t come to class. But they are also there to help you if you need it (which is also your job to ask for help).
- Friends- you lose some, you win some.
- You will lose touch with some friends, no doubt. But don’t worry. When I say you meet your best friends in college, I am not kidding, you do. It makes it hard to leave them for breaks. It will have you wondering how you have gone 18 years with out these people.
- The most important; growing up and going home
- A semester or two has gone by and your first year is over and you go home. You will see kids in your grade go down such different paths than you did. You will return to a town that your class use to run and you will realize the towns that used to be yours isn’t yours anymore. You will feel relived to be home, but you will realize that first year changed you and maybe everyone around you, maybe in little ways or in a huge way. And that is okay.
Don’t be scared of college, don’t be afraid to try new things. This is where you learn more about yourself in ways you never thought. You will return home and wish to go back. Just remember from here on out you need to be selfish because these are the years of learning, fun and growing up.
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