Time

Starting college is beginning a new chapter in your life, which is unlike any other you have previously. The last thing you need is to be interrupting your day with plans to have a FaceTime date or feel sad about missing someone when you should be taking advantage of the new situation you are in. Four years may seem like a long time, but that does not mean there is enough time to not embrace every minute.

Distraction

Ladies, you are not taking on a lifetime’s amount of debt to find your husband—you are here to get an education so you can be a successful, independent woman who doesn’t need a man to take care of her, unless she says so. *Drops mic* But seriously, having a boyfriend or a hooking up with someone, especially during your first year when you are still trying to figure everything out, can make maintaining grades 10 times harder.

Money

If you are to learn anything in college, it is that two dollars is critical when you are choosing what to eat or buy. As bad as it sounds, having a significant other really does cost money. This doesn’t mean that you should resent that, since when you are in a relationship, spending money on someone when you know a certain gift will make them happy can feel awesome. Just not when you are first discovering how to budget as a college student.

Stress

As wonderful as a relationship can be with the right person, there is always the capacity for drama. I feel like this type of drama is much more consuming than other types since it comes from such charged emotions. In a new place, you do not want to be that person that is caught up on drama from elsewhere instead of expanding where you are now. At the end of the day, it is not worth it.

Friendship

I came into college wanting to find the friends I would keep for the rest of my life. In some sense, this meant socially starting over and actually being able to reinvent yourself. No one knows you, and you can use this as an opportunity to express yourself in a way you might not have been able to in high school. The most important relationships you can make freshman year are friendships, not romantic relationships/hookups. You are going to be glad you have a well-established support system at school as the year goes on.

Adventure

This was my way of saying you are single, so do what you want. This means no guilt if you want to dance with someone at a party or just doing what makes you happy. I am not saying you have to hookup with people and go crazy since you are single; it is more the idea that you are responsible for only you, and that is kind of awesome. So stay out until 2 a.m., talk to someone if you want, and honestly, just do what is going to make you a happier person. Your relationship with yourself is the most important thing at the end of the day.