1. Homework will take on a whole new meaning.
It's a good thing I didn't have a busy social life before college, because I certainly won't be developing one anytime soon. Gone are the days when homework only took an hour each night--homework now takes up nearly every free moment. Unlike teachers, professors do not particularly care that you have four other classes besides theirs when they assign ten page papers due that Friday, along with thirty-five multi-step homework problems. Nor do they care that your other four professors also assigned ten page papers due that Friday, accompanied by piles of homework problems. Homework is no longer simply a worksheet to take home; homework becomes the college student's life as well as the source of immense stress and emotional breakdowns. I am not a SpongeBob fan, but he sums it up rather nicely.

2. Guess what? No one is going to make you do anything.
Sure, you have more freedom than you’ve ever had. Sure, you can stay up all night if you want to. Sure, you can binge-watch all of the Harry Potter movies on Netflix. Sure, you can do all the crazy things you’ve dreamed of doing, like going to WalMart at all hours of the night, which is the craziest option available in Nevada, Missouri. Just wait until you have to get up for an eight o’clock class after a two AM WalMart run. Your parents aren’t here to make sure you get up on time, have all your homework ready to turn in, and eat a nice, home-cooked breakfast before that eight o’clock class. Just wait until your professor asks you for that ten page paper you were supposed to be writing while you were making that WalMart run or your professor hands you that exam you neglected studying for in order to hang out with Harry Potter.

3. Your definition of cooking becomes warming up ramen noodles in the microwave.
Perhaps, like me, you’re thinking about all these great meals that you’ll cook for yourself in college. That won’t last long. First of all, you have no time to cook in college. Homework eats up any and all extra time. Secondly, what do you think you’re going to make on a hot plate that takes twenty minutes to boil water? Forget making that secret recipe eggplant parmesan—you’ll be lucky to fry an egg. Microwavable ramen noodles and EasyMac suddenly count as cooking. Of course, there is a dining hall that will take care of your every dietary desire only a five minute walk across campus. After all, who really knows the health implications of eating all that ramen?

4. You wear more clothes than you think until you have to do your own laundry.
Upon entering college you realize how time-consuming laundry truly is, how difficult it is to drag your loaded laundry basket and detergent down three flights of stairs to the laundry machines, and you realize how much easier life was when your mother did it for you. You also realize that a dollar spent to wash your clothes and another dollar spent to dry them is good money. Upon realizing these things, it becomes possible to wear a shirt multiple times before washing it. When your closet is nearing empty because all your clothes are dirty, wearing the same shirt two days in a row also becomes a possibility. After all, your Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classmates never need to know what you wear on Tuesday and Thursday. Why do laundry when you could be doing homework?

5. College is full of weird people. You have to live with them. Luckily, weird is a good thing.
If you thought your high school classes had some weird people in them, just wait until college. It’s a whole new world. You’re suddenly thrust into living with a few hundred other teenagers from all over the country on a small, confined campus—and you’re also getting your first taste of spending 24 hours 7 days a week around people who may be very, very…weird. Yet after the first few weeks, weird no longer seems weird. Weird begins to seem different, and then different begins to seem good as you learn to appreciate those differences and the value they add to the person who bears them. In fact, you might even learn to be friends with the very people you thought were weird (admittedly partially out of desperation). I mean, lime green hair? That’s not weird, that’s just different—and hey, she can pull it off.

6 (Yes, I'm aware the title says "Top Five"). You realize your parents are wonderful people.
Perhaps you were a smart child and realized the full extent of how wonderful your parents were before going to college. I always thought my mom and dad were good parents before I left for college; I mean, I was lucky enough to get two parents who loved me. However, I never knew how great they really were until I left. I never knew how good of a cook my mom really was until I had to live on dining hall food, or how much laundry my mom did until I did it all myself. I never knew how much my dad helped me with until I was left to figure out how to properly fix a bicycle or complete my chemistry homework. I never knew how much my mom hugged me or how much I enjoyed those hugs until no one hugged me anymore. I never knew how proud my dad was of me until he wasn’t there smiling or telling me “good job” when I did something well. I never knew how much I loved them until I found myself looking forward to going home to see them, or getting a note from them in the mail, or getting a phone call from them. I never realized how grateful I was for the wonderful people I call Mom and Dad, the two people who always support me, until I didn’t have them with me every day. Take the time now and realize how wonderful your parents are before you go off to college, and if you’re already there, take the time to have the same epiphany I did. After your epiphany is finished, go call them—it’s not as painful as you think.