There you are, sitting on your bed, checking your email, or if you had an experience like mine, then you were standing next to your mom in the pasta and canned food isle at the grocery store, checking your online portal. Either way, you sat (or stood) anxiously waiting for the tiny loading sign to stop spinning and for your "I am pleased to inform you..." acceptance letter to pop up on the screen.

Looking back, after finishing my first year of college, I found my acceptance letter to be quite comical. The feeling of excitement I got while reading the words, "congratulations", "remarkable achievement", "largest applicant pool in the nation", "world-class university", overpowered every other feeling I could have possibly felt at that time. Though, months later, sitting in a class of over 300 students, all of those other feelings hit.

There are a lot of things your acceptance letter does't tell you. Yes, college is amazing and adventurous, but it is also difficult and frustrating. So here are 6 things your college acceptance letter doesn't tell you:

1) Your Sleep Is Precious

Just because you woke up everyday at 6am in high school, does not mean you will be able to do the same in college. Let's face it, all-nighters are a real thing and they happen more often than you'd expect. If you are lucky, or if you happen to manage your time extremely well, then maybe you won't have to pull a lot of all-nighters. BUT if you do, well, then you should know any class before 10AM is not your friend. And for some, even 10AM is pushing it. Unfortunately, if you are like me and you are putting yourself through years of pre-med classes, you will have an 8AM. It is inevitable. Yay, medicine! *hint the sarcasm*

2) Your Valedictorian Title (Or Any Title) Means Nothing

Sorry, Charlie, but nobody cares. I don't mean that in a harsh or sadistic way, it's just fact. Don't beat yourself up, it's an amazing accomplishment, but you are now in a place that is full of valedictorians, salutatorians, ASB Presidents, volleyball captains, and debate team captains. It will be very rare for someone to commend you on being one of the above, when they, themselves, have been one or more of those things. However, that doesn't stop you from continuing to succeed and building each other up to reach your full potential together.

3) You'll Soon Say "Bye, Bye" To Good Grades

So, you managed to make it through high school with straight A's. Well, college is a whole different ball game. Being a straight "A" student in high school doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a straight "A" student in college, BUT THAT'S OKAY. What most people don't understand, or continue to be close minded about, is that you are going to fail. Maybe you'll fail a class, maybe an exam, or maybe you'll fail at realizing your major isn't for you. The bright side? You learn. You learn who you are and what you like. You find yourself and your sanity in the process. It still fascinates me how one school, with so many different activities and people, can prove to someone, myself for instance, that you never really knew who you were. So say good bye to getting an "A" in Psychobiology, it's just not for you.

4) You'll Be Juggling More Than A Clown

I once met a girl who took 8 or 9 different classes at a time in high school. Granted, one of them was a study hall and the other was some kind of advisory course, but in total she was juggling up to 9 classes! Just because you may have done this in high school, doesn't mean you can manage that many classes in college. As a full-time student, I take a minimum (sometimes more) of 12 units, which is typically 3 classes. To your old high school self, 3 classes is nothing, but keep in mind, these classes have twice the amount of studying and twice the amount of work. Trying to manage 5+ classes would be overwhelming and would most definitely be challenging. That's not even taking into account that most students work or have some sort of extra curricular. So, academically, college is not like high school, but you will get to take some pretty interesting classes. Dabble in the art of theatre, argue your way through a pre-law course, or maybe even test your own DNA in a lab. Whatever class you choose to take, you'll learn something: whether you love it, or hate it.

5) You'll Make Friends

Contrary to popular belief and my own beliefs, I am a very shy person. I like to think I am the most outgoing person in the universe, but I am totally not. Before going to college, I went to a very small high school (class size of 20). After deciding to come to a school with over 40,000 students, my mind ran in all different directions. Will I make friends? What if I can't be myself? How will I meet people? These questions ran through my head on a daily basis. Probably shocking to those who know me, but I was terrified. Little did I know, I would meet amazing people and some not-so-cool people as well. That's one thing I have struggled with, but also learned about college. You are immersing yourself into a pool of people from all different walks of life. There will be people who challenge you and there will be people who question you. But then, there will also be the people you find yourself going on late night ice cream runs with, or having spontaneous karaoke parties with. Those are the people who come out of nowhere and make your decision of attending a school so far from home worth while. Those are your friends.

6) You Are Not Prepared

I've heard the same thing time and time again, "I am preparing you for college." Well, if anyone ever told you that, they did a pretty terrible job because you are not prepared. Nothing will prepare you for the most emotional, inconvenient, and adrenalized, roller coaster ride of your life. College is difficult, it's scary, and it's also a lot fun. You'll dip your feet into waters you've never thought to explore, you'll make friends who live on the other side of the world, you'll find new ways of thinking, and most importantly, you'll find you. You may not be ready, but if you wait until you are, it'll be too late. There is never a good time to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself, that is why, in the words of Nike, "just do it."

These 6 things have challenged me in ways I can't even begin to explain. I have been humbled tremendously, I have learned a lot in the process, and I have opened up my mind to different avenues of possibility.

And though these 6 things may not have been in my acceptance letter, there were 6 words that were: "We know you will thrive here." Those 6 words, though coming from faculty I had never met, encouraged me to do one of the most exhilarating things I have done in my life: accept my offer to UCLA. And after a year at one of the most selective and applied to schools in the nation, I have done just that: thrived.