As the seniors of the college scene begin to look back on their accomplishments, their memories, and all the things they've learned in the past four years, they're probably laughing at the ignorant bliss that was the senior tear of high school. So many things have changed: You're more mature, you're heading into the *real* real world, and you're probably broke and desperate for more college so that you don't have to adult.
Your high school self would be shocked at the differences:
On Being A Senior:
High School Seniors:
Bubbling with excitement because senior year means being king/queen of the entire high school.
College Seniors:
Feelings of terror and anxiety regarding your imminent plunge into adulthood have officially set in.
On Your Academics:
High School Seniors:
The final year of high school is easy, breezy, and fun. Your only concern is applying to colleges and staying out of trouble so that your principle lets you walk at graduation.
College Seniors:
You're just praying that you make it out alive with some sort of GPA left to squander up for future employers. Thankfully C's get degrees, right?
On Romance:
High School Seniors:
"Nothing will keep us apart. We'll get into the same college, we'll FaceTime every single day, we'll make it work! Our love is stronger than the separation of college."
College Seniors:
Most of your friends are already married and your closest relationship is still with pizza and a bottle of wine.
On Employment:
High School Seniors:
You roll your eyes and begrudgingly get a job. Thankfully since it's fresh, you still love working two days a week in retail and at coffee shops and ice-cream stores.
College Seniors:
You walk into every single post-grad interview with the full intention of selling your soul if it means getting a job after college.
On Parties:
High School Seniors:
You call the kid with the fake ID or scramble to find someone whose older sibling is willing to, uh... help you out and you all pack out to a house or bonfire and rage like you're already in college.
College Seniors:
You probably go to one or two parties a year and they're usually at a friend's house so you show up in sweatpants with extra homework and a bottle of gas station wine and typically spend most of your evening in a corner laughing at all the try-hard freshman. You'd honestly rather be somewhere else, sipping on craft beer and eating cheese off some hipster contraption.
On Parents:
High School Seniors:
You CAN'T WAIT to finally be free from rules and curfews and chores. Getting away from your parents will be your dream come true.
College Seniors:
Your parents are amazing and you love them so much and they were right about absolutely everything so you call them three times every single day to tell them how thankful you are and how much you love them.
On The Future:
High School Seniors:
High school is almost over and college is about to begin. Nothing can hold you down.
College Seniors:
"Don't think about your loans, don't think about your loans, don't think about your loans"
Senioritis:
Oh yeah, this one's universal. Senioritis is real and it exists and it only gets worse.
At the end of the day, life during the senior year of high school is on a completely different planet than life during the senior year of college. However, one thing that remains the same for both is the beautiful feeling of walking across a stage and receiving a piece of paper that you spent four years working towards.
You're almost there, seniors. Push forward.