How many times have we scrolled through social media and found posts like these?

These are tweets that are common on 'college' twitter accounts and personal college student accounts. College students come across these tweets and often raise a lip in a rueful smirk, press the 'favorite' button, and scroll on. We know what college is like, we've experienced it. There is some truth to these tweets, and we know it. But I think these tweets do more harm than they realize. There are impressionable high school grads reading these. Grads with anxiety, grads that really don't know what college is about. They want to be excited, and they want to share their excitement with social media. And then there are college students that constantly put down that excitement.

I won't lie. YES, sometimes college students are broke, tired, hungry and stressed! YES, there are nights that you will cry and wonder why you started this! But you know what else? You know what these tweets don't encourage or talk about? YOU WILL GROW SO MUCH IN COLLEGE. YES, you will be challenged! It is time to respond to that challenge! This is your time to learn how to respond in the real world! YES, you will lose sleep! Because you are laughing with your friends across the hall and this card game just isn't over yet. High school grads that are discouraged by these posts, these students are bitter. I won't lie to you. Sometimes college isn't great. It's expensive, the courses are challenging, a lot of times you have to walk everywhere... but there is so much good that comes from college. It's time to be independent, it's time to laugh, it's time to work. For better or for worse, if you've chosen college, this is the next chapter of your life. YOU'RE the author. YOU decide what the pages say, what events you go to, what extracurriculars you're involved with. I know that these decisions can be scary. But these are what the tweets about college SHOULD look like:

So, go forth! Go to college (if you want) and choose to rock it. You can do this.