Freshman year, you're brand new. You're in a new place with new freedoms and opportunities. You have no real responsibilities and college is just for fun.
Sophomore year, you start to know more people, get into your major a little more, but still don't see the real world being in the near future. College is a little stressful, but mostly fun.
Senior year, half of your time is drunkenly stumbling around downtown and the other half is spent crying about the fact that the real world is your next step.
But junior year is right in between. College is still supposed to be fun, but the real world is coming up all too quickly. Here are 18 ways you know that you are in your junior year of college.
1. College and the real world are finally starting to mesh
You finally realize that college isn't just this fun place where you can drink on weeknights and wear pajama pants to class without judgement. You actually need to start getting internships and narrow down what you want to do with your life.
2. You are totally broke
Your first year off campus, (and without meal plan), will leave you and your wallet empty and sad.
3. You just did or will soon celebrate your 21st birthday
Toss your fakes and your fears of getting an underage aside, junior year is when you can finally drink legally!
4. You are near starvation without a meal plan
A part of you dies when you hand over your real debit card to buy coffee or lunch on campus. You realize you definitely took meal plan for granted.
5. And you realize it's much harder to motivate yourself to go to class when you're off campus
Now not only do you have to get out of bed, but you have to drive all the way to campus, find (legal) parking, and then walk all the way to your class. Staying in bed has never sounded better.
6. You weirdly miss home more than you ever have
Maybe it's just me, but realizing that my life is on the fast track to the "real world" makes me miss my parents and my home and the simplicity of being young more than ever.
7. Those student loans are finally starting to look like a serious problem
Those loans you took out before you started school seemed so far down the line. But now that you're getting emails telling you how much debt you've accumulated, you're realizing, shit, I probably should deal with these.
8. Your bar/going out outfits are nothing special anymore
Ah, remember when you spent hours getting ready to go out freshman year? Now you toss on leggings and a crew neck and call it a night.
9. You realize it's much harder to get to the bars when you're off campus
A 45 minute walk to your apartment from the bars sucks a lot more than that 10 minute walk back to your dorm.
10. Freshmen start to look much younger
It's hard to believe you were ever a lanyard twirling lost freshman, too.
11. You're a little bit over going out
After 2 years of going out all the time, the hype has died down. A wine night with your best friends or even watching movies and eating cookies seems like a better evening plan these days.
12. You either start to question your major or realize how much you love it
I'm hoping that you're part of the latter, but you may be part of the former. As you start to really delve into your major-related classes, you realize exactly what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life. You're bound to question it, but hopefully you fall more in love with it.
13. You are starting to make friends in your major
Now that you're in a ton of major-related classes and your random pre-reqs are a thing of the past, you are starting to make friends with people who want to do the same thing as you.
14. A lot of your friends are going to graduate and you aren't ready
Graduation is going to be sad this year because you actually know people who will be walking across that stage. (And you realize that in 1 year, it'll be you.)
15. Homecoming is finally exciting because you know people who are coming back
Freshman and sophomore year you may not have understood the hype surrounding homecoming weekend, but now that you are old enough to have graduated friends, you get it.
16. You realize your university is your home
You've never felt more comfortable on campus. You know people everywhere you go from your old dorms, your organizations, 5 semesters of classes and your major. You truly feel like you belong, and this is your place.
17. Part of you is completely ready to graduate
Half the time, you are slightly over going out, you love your major and are ready to transform it into a job, and you're ready for the real world. Sometimes, graduation seems too far away.
18. And part of you is devastated that next year you'll be a senior
And the other half, you love going out every night with your whole heart, you're terrified of looking for jobs in your field and the real world makes you want to crawl into the fetal position with a bottle of wine and cry forever. Sometimes, graduation seems all too close.
