4 years ago, you were anxiously waiting for the prom, your summer of freedom, and of course, attending your dream college. You sat in class envisioning how the next few years would play out. You thought about the friends you make, the classes you'd take and the teachers that would change your life.

You could only imagine how fun the parties would be and your hardest decision was debating between being a student-athlete or joining Greek Life. You thought you had it all figured out, and within 4 short years, you'd be on your way to a full-time job and success like you've never known.

Here's the thing, you never once thought about what would happen if you changed your major, failed a class or transferred to another university. But all of those things are common and real-life dilemmas. I never failed anything in high school, I never was held back. I wasn't the smartest or had the best GPA but I worked hard. In college, hard work isn't always enough.

Not all professors admire your dedication, if your grades aren't there, then that's on you. Having a professor that gives extra credit or tries to understand why you're struggling is rare. No one is going to hold your hand as they did in high school. All-nighters don't always pay off.

You can stay up all night researching for your 10-page paper, go to tutoring and study until your eyes fall out of their sockets. You are not guaranteed good grades just because you put in hard work. I know this because it's lead me to the situation I am in now.

It's May, my friends are all receiving their caps and gowns and adding the finishing touches to their resumes. Some of them already found a full-time job, some of them are graduating with honors. Their lives seemed to have gone exactly how they planned.

So why hasn't yours too?

It's not your fault that your path looks different. You are not any less worthy, any less dedicated, any less intelligent. You are passionate. You don't surrender or crumble to defeat. You brush yourself off and persevere.

To be honest, the notion that one must finish college within four years is over-rated if you ask me. It's 2019, not everyone has their lives figured out at 22. Not everyone knows who they are and what they want to be at 18. The college that you fell in love with out of high school, may not be the same college you graduate from, and that is okay.

And the ones that changed their majors, transferred colleges, took endless summer classes just to graduate on time, do not make you a failure because you didn't do the same. Like I said, your path is yours. Sometimes taking the road less traveled is a blessing in disguise. You're taking your time and making sure this is really what you want to be for the rest of your life.

Whether you graduate with your bachelors at 25 or you masters at 30, it doesn't discredit any of your hard work.

Try not to constantly compare yourself to where you think you should be, based on everyone else's' stories.

So while your friends are getting ready to turn their tassels to the left, focus on what's going to get you there. Get through this next week of finals, study hard, and know that soon enough your time will come. And most importantly, be genuinely happy for your friend's accomplishments, their dreams are coming true.