Going to college from high school can be a difficult experience. If you go away for school you are separated from the familiarity of family, friends and home cooked meals. What makes it even harder is being cut down to size around thousands of other students. You might even start getting that “maybe I’m not so special anymore” feeling.
If you're anything like I was in high school, you did absolutely everything you possibly could. I was involved in too many clubs and activities and worked to keep my grades. After four years, I felt like top dog. When I went to college I experienced an odd phenomenon- I had been a big fish in a little pond, but college was the ocean.
After doing so much in high school, it's easy to feel so accomplished. Once you start at a university, you aren’t one of a few who was anymore. There's more than one person who was top of their class or president of an organization. If you were that kind of person before, it is likely you will continue to surround yourself with high achieving people. It can make you realise you might have done a lot of important things, but so did everyone else.
Big Fish, sometimes it’s hard to realize you're in a bigger pond these days. You aren't used to being treated like the small fry. People are right when they say that college can be a fresh start. You got here because of what you did in high school, but your GPA or activities don't matter anymore. You could have been valedictorian and start on the same page as someone who barely made it. It can be hard to not be the first pick for leadership anymore or feeling like your voice isn’t being heard.
Don’t worry Big Fish, this can be good news. You get the opportunity to find new ways to stand out. You don't get to rely on your past self, you get to find new things that make you grow. You are able to prove yourself and how capable to really are. The truth is, big fish aren’t meant to be in little ponds.They run out of space to grow and thrive. There are more dangers and challenges in deeper water, but there is more freedom.
Big Fish, don't be nostalgic about the little pond. Keep swimming, and work on making a splash in the ocean.
