College is hard, but it's not because the classes are extremely difficult, not because the homework increases exponentially, and not because the tests become impossible, as high school teachers always warn their students. College is more difficult in a social, time-management way that nobody, nothing, and not even this article can prepare you for.
1. It's hard to say "no."
It's way more difficult than it ever was in high school to say "no" to plans, to going to events, and to other weird things that pop up in order to consume all of your time. It's easy to say "no" to high school friends who you've known your entire life, but when friends who you've had for less than a year ask you to hang out, the word "no" is very hard to say.
2. It's hard to be so far from your family.
We can all admit we that need our mom sometimes. Whether it's because you had a great day, an absolutely horrible one, or you simply need advice or someone to talk to, our moms are always there for us. I miss my mom a lot. I also miss my dad. I miss the fun adventures and concerts that we went to when I was home. Sometimes you just need your dad too. You might also miss your siblings. My little sisters are my world and I miss them incredibly when I'm at school. I miss every game, meet, performance, and awards ceremony that they have, and, to be entirely blunt, it sucks.
3. There are no parents dictating your every move.
This may seem like a blessing at first and, trust me, overall it really is, but sometimes you need that extra push of a parent over your shoulder. It's difficult to get an early start on that final project that's due in three weeks because you have three more weeks to procrastinate on starting the project. You don't have the easy "my mom said I can't hang out because I need to do my homework and practice piano before I can" excuse. You have to make the choice to prioritize work over play and sometimes that's a lot more difficult than it sounds.
4. There is nobody to wake you up when you sleep through your alarm.
By your second semester, you'll have it down to a system, but God bless you if you (like me) have an 8:00 a.m. class during your first semester of freshman year. Your mom won't come into your room and stand there until you get out of bed. There's nobody to scream and threaten punishments at you when you still fail to wake up for school. It's all up to you, bro. It's just you and your crappy alarm clock to get you to your 8:00 a.m. on time. I wish you good luck.
5. There's nobody yelling at you to go to sleep.
Once again, this sounds like a wonderful freedom and, once again, it is once you learn to reign in your freedom. At midnight, nobody is telling you to turn off Netflix and nobody is reminding you that your 8:00 a.m. class is going to be way harder to wake up in time for if you only get five hours of sleep. Nobody is reminding you that you have to shower in the morning too, so that's an even earlier wake-up time. You will pull a few nights where you sleep only for a couple of hours and you will learn that sometimes going to bed by 10:00 p.m. is a blessing rather than a curse.
College is hard and it's not just because the amount of class time and the amount of homework increases. Honestly, the small difficulty increase of your classes is the least of your worries. Worry about everything else.
