Dear High School Senior,

Don't rush your high school graduation day--I promise you it will get here faster than you think. I remember the last few days of high school thinking that high school was overrated and I could not wait to be in college and experience the real world. Perhaps I had already had a taste of the real world--I just had not realized it yet.

All throughout high school I was actively involved, like you probably are, and I couldn't wait for it to all be over. The intense summer camps, the countless tests that I took, and the weekends I didn't have to actually study; if I were given another chance, I would honestly do it all over again. I would spend my summer with my best friends in the heat because I took it for granted. I would take advantage of how easy high school-level tests were compared to college-level tests. And I wish that I could have a weekend to myself where I didn't have to study all weekend from sunrise to sunset. All of these things I took for granted in high school. I thought that somehow, college would be different.

College is different! In fact, really different. Although I don't have to spend my summers in the heat preparing for school, I wish I did. I wish that I was still as involved as I was in high school. I understand that I could be, but once you get a job, its hard to be involved in everything and still work and manage time to sleep and eat.

I also wish these tests and quizzes were as easy in college as they are in high school. The type and quality of my tests in high school are nothing compared to my tests and quizzes in college. In high school I could study for one or two hours and make an A on a test but if I did that in college, I would not make an A. So to those future college students, please don't allow yourself to believe you're invincible and neglect studying for your test, because you won't pass that way.

And finally, I wish that I could have my weekends to myself again. Every weekend in college I've spent studying for upcoming exams or participating in events on campus. Although the events I participate in are optional, it does give me time away from the books and allows to me have a breath of fresh air. If I chose to not study on the weekend for my upcoming exams, I would be very overwhelmed during the week. School weeks are already stressful, and adding three times the amount of studying would make it nearly impossible to handle.

If there's any advice I could give you besides the three topics I discussed, it would be to not rush your time in high school. Although college really is "the best four years of your life," high school really was easier than college. However, you are about to graduate, so do make the best of it, but remember that time passes more quickly than you think, so don't let college slip away as quickly as high school did. Don't blink too fast because before you know it you will be in college, in the military, or working, any of which are much different than high school.