To myself and every other college student that is in my shoes,

You're losing time.

Every second that you spend worrying ticks away on the clock from the time that you have left in college. Soon enough, that time is going to run out and you aren't going to remember how nervous you were to take the GRE or looking for a job after you graduate.

Don't waste away the last year that you have at this beautiful place worrying about how to tell your parents that you didn't get into your dream graduate program or that you have to take summer courses in order to graduate, or that you want to go abroad after all this is over.

They'll get over it.

What you do with the next chapter of your life is up to you. You and you alone get to make that decision. This is the ultimate moment of freedom. None of your teachers or relatives get to make this decision for you because they aren't the ones who actually have to follow through with it. If they don't support you doing something that will help you grow, then maybe they aren't the people to call every time you need advice.

Stop wasting your time people-pleasing.

Your dad wants you to go to med school? That's nice, but he isn't the one who will have to dedicate the next decade of his life to medical school. Aunt Sally wants you to move home because she misses you. That's really sweet of her, but she isn't the one who fell in love with the boy who sat next to her in English class. Your sister wants you to move to her small town. She's not the one who grew up with a gypsy soul that has always been ready to travel the world.

You have to live with your decision, not them.

If you regret your major, change it while you still have the chance. Even if it means spending an extra year in school, it will be so much worse if you graduate with a degree that you never wanted in the first place. Look into every single option you have after you graduate.

Come up with other things that you can do for a year or two in case you don't get into a graduate school that you like. It can happen and you don't want to be stuck working at McDonald's in order to pay the bills.

Follow your heart.

Propose to the girl of your dreams, book a flight out of here, go to med school, law school, or cooking school. Just do it, before you lose your chance. In ten years, you aren't going to care about how your parents disapproved or that your teacher laughed at you when you told her your plan. You will only be upset with yourself if you let an eye roll from your mother or a smirk from you adviser crush your spirits and dictate your future.

All of this is what I say to you. Don't worry about where to go next. Worry about chasing your dreams and watching them be fulfilled.

Sincerely,

Someone who's going for it.