Congratulations! You have just wasted four years putting up with exhausting classes that seem to have no end, substitute teachers that didn’t care about your grade and the dreaded parent-teacher conferences that makes or breaks a student’s morale. You fought through it, and you made it all the way to the end. For some, a college awaits your arrival as acceptance letters seem to be more enticing than getting drafted to the NBA (trust me, when I got my acceptance letters I reenacted the draft as if they were drafting me to play basketball at their school). Keep in mind that although the summer is about to heat up, so is your stress level. Reason being is that college is by far the most confusing, excruciating, most stressful feat to undergo after high school.

I know, some of you are saying that college is actually fun and if you can balance out your work ethic with your everyday life, you can still have fun. Although that may be true, I never said that the stress level particularly comes at a specific time. Depending on the person, the stress can pour on in the beginning, or find itself becoming a nuisance towards the end of your college years. Regardless of how much fun you’ll be having, college is going to hit you with things you won’t see coming. The worst part about it all is that the schoolwork has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Let’s take for example a young man that have received acceptance into the college of his dreams (we'll say Syracuse University because that’s my favorite school). He’s a natural-born athlete with a knack for making the top 10 on anybody’s list. He is also fairly good in school and takes a major in biology. May I also add in that he is a world-class party animal. So, he gets to college and the first mistake that he makes is taking college lightly. Make no mistake my young graduates, THIS IS NOT HIGH SCHOOL! The teachers are twice as mean, twice as ruthless and twice as unforgiving. I don’t mean it in a bad way, but what I’m trying to let you know is that the excuses stop now. Teachers love a person that reads the selected chapters, does the work and puts in the effort. Anything less will not get you the grade you were hoping for.

Now remember when I said that the schoolwork has absolutely nothing to do with your stress? Well, I’m still right because it’s not the schoolwork that’s the problem. It’s the workload and it’s also the next mistake that you shouldn’t do in college. I know what you’re thinking; you can’t possibly do all that work and still have fun. My answer to that is you’re absolutely right. Most teachers are old-fashioned and hate the idea of you blowing their work off to go party using their text book as a mini beer pong table. You see, with this young man from Syracuse thinking that creating your own schedule means creating an easier workload and a somehow easier college experience, he failed to realize that these teachers don’t know you. They don’t know that you have a game on the weekends, they don’t know that you work 15-20+ hours at work and they especially don’t know that you have different classes giving you the same downpour of workload. To most teachers, you are a number and every time you step into the dungeon called a classroom, they expect for their class to be first priority in your mind. So please come prepared.

As we move on down the years, the young man (if you're still even following) that is now a college veteran starts to take less classes per semester and becomes a part-time student, in an attempt to catch up to his schoolwork and straighten out his life. That might seem cool and all but in all honesty, it is by far the worst thing you can do and should be regarded as a last option when it comes to academics. Many people don’t realize until its too late that colleges are full time for a reason. I take six to seven classes a semester, and I still won’t graduate in less than three years.

Although it does depend on the major and the requirements, it still doesn’t change the fact that you will not graduate in four years if you fall under full time status. So unless you go to a college close to home, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Last but not least, the young man finished college and is ready to move on with the next chapter in his life, but there was one problem. He failed to establish a life outside of college and therefore did not seek connections or internship during the summer, leaving him with no immediate job offers or opportunities (Keep in mind that he was also not drafted to any major sports leagues). So, you’re probably asking yourself: What does that leave him with? My answer to you is excessive amounts of job applications being sent through to various employers hoping to get a job offer. Good news is that he found a job; bad news is that it was neither the job nor the career that he wanted and therefore most of his earnings was dedicated to his loans that of course he had to pay back.

This is not to scare you, wish any bad luck on you or anything of that sort. This is to let you know that college is something that you can’t take lightly. You can have fun, do your schoolwork and still be aware of the outside world and what you would soon have to face. I know up to this point you probably missed the old days of the bacon egg and cheese in the morning while waiting on your bus to take you to school and see your friends. Now it’s filled with boring days and restless nights, sometimes with nothing to do at all. Imagine that after you’ve spent fifty thousand dollars or more on a degree that didn’t get you anywhere.

As a third year student and resident assistant, I tell people that college is fun, exciting and comes with great benefits that could be added as a new edition to your everyday life.

But your number one goal in college above all else, is to find a career and work to live and not work to survive…