Graduating from high school is a milestone that most people cannot wait to experience. It marks their survival of some of the most awkward, embarrassing, and stressful years of their lives. Now they get the chance to move on to college.

Being in college means you acquire new freedoms in life that you get to enjoy. You are no longer going to be treated like a kid. You are now an adult, which means you can do a lot of things on your own. You even have the ability to vote, buy a lottery ticket, and can legally change your name if you truly wanted to.

Everyone that is going to college believes this will be the time when their lives truly start. Being a college student is the ultimate title to have as it shows that you are a young adult who is in the prime of your life.

There are many great things that college can offer our young, inquiring minds, but unfortunately, college has become known as a time where students just party and drink.

This is where college freshmen students go wrong. Right from the start, many are under the impression that they have to go to parties all the time because that is what "real" college students do. We should not be promoting this college party culture. It needs to end.

Just because you are in college does not mean you have to attend parties. It does not make you "cool", and it completely intrudes on your whole college experience.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with hanging out with friends and having a good time together once in a while, but let's be honest, this is not what happens on college campuses. Every night, there is a party somewhere on campus and there is almost always alcohol present. Unless you are 21 years old, you should not be drinking. You can get into serious trouble if you get caught.

Even if there is no alcohol at these parties, there is so much more to college and life in general than attending parties. It takes away your precious time that you could be using to do anything, something useful for yourself or others.

Use that time to do your homework. Why make every class a struggle because you are not prepared? Skip that party and read your textbook. Take notes. Study for that exam. Volunteer. Help others who are in need. Get involved on campus. Do something productive instead of wasting your time and money.

College is not cheap. Either you, your parents, or someone else is paying for you to go to class every day. You might also be paying for textbooks, food, and housing. If you plan on just partying every night, and you are not attending your classes or you are doing poorly in them, then why bother to be in school at all?

College is the time where we should be learning different things and becoming our own person. This is the time where we can find out what we like and what we do not like. We can find out what we want to do for the rest of our lives. We can also meet amazing professors and gain so much knowledge from them.

The only thing parties will you teach is how to waste your time and money.

The sad thing is how people just assume automatically that all college students party and drink. I had one professor greet me one class and ask how my weekend was. I responded with, " I don't remember."

My professor thought I was partying and drinking all weekend, which was not the case. I was just doing homework and working at my job. My weekends went by so fast and were not memorable enough. I genuinely just did not remember. My professor thought something different because partying and drinking have become the norm in society.

I say we change this. Change what college students are perceived to be. Let's make going to classes, studying, working hard, and doing well in our classes the norm.

Just because we are in college, does not mean we have to give in to what society has made college all about.

There is more to college than partying.