"The"

If you could describe the lives of college students, that one single word says it all.

While I am obviously referring to the lack of completion in regards to papers and assignments, there is also a duel meaning here.

As college kids, we gain a sense of independence the minute we step into our dorm and our parents leave us. Everything we ever wanted to do is right at our fingertips, and new adventures await. We feel more free than we have ever been, and simultaneously chalk this up as "being in the real world."

However, this is not the case.

Just because collegiate freedom implies that we can have it all, we are most certainly not part of the real world. Even as I'm typing this I cannot truly explain what the "real world" actually entails, because I am not there yet; I simply acknowledge the difference. Now, personally, I do mostly everything on my own, as most other college students do. But just because we have a level of independence that exceeds our high school years, it does not mean we know what it is like to completely be dependent upon ourselves.

We go to school for most of the weekdays. We do not have full time jobs, or electrical and mortgage bills to pay. Some college students pay for a house or apartment they are renting, and even if the funding required for that is from the sole income of the owner, you're still not there yet.

And while there are many "real world" responsibilities that can be managed in unison with attending a university; I believe that the one factor that sets college students apart from the "real world" is the mindset.

It's knowing that you are done with school (at least for now). It's waking up every day to go to your new found job in a career you have been working towards. And it is looking yourself in the mirror each morning and realizing that this is where your academics have brought you, regardless of if your outcome is better or worse off than you strove for; it's realizing the time behind you.

The basic fact is that, after college, everything changes in one way or the other. During school, you are making new friends, connections, and starting new relationships. You are delving into a field of study and gaining ample knowledge in order to pursue a specific job. And you're learning how to ace an interview, memorizing all the right things to say and what is being looked for by certain companies. You're having fun and figuring yourself out.

But once you graduate college and enter the "real world" – you're on your own.