Maybe I’m alone here, but my first semester of college has been one of the greatest academic challenges I’ve ever faced.
I was blessed to attend a high school where being “college ready” was a huge focus, but no amount of college prep courses, AP classes, or college-ready workshops could prepare me for the struggle of the real deal.
To be honest, college kind of sucks… and that’s coming from someone who loves school. It’s hard, and it’s intense, and it’s completely new. You move away from home (which for me was more like, you sure it’s a such good idea to let the girl who still sleeps with a stuffed animal at night fend for herself out in the real world?) and everything is different. You don’t have a curfew, you don’t have someone to stop you from eating ice cream for dinner, and you’re in charge of making sure you survive. That’s a lot of pressure on a kid.
Classes are tough. Your professors ask a lot from you because they believe in you. You aren’t required by law to attend class anymore, so you have to be able to motivate yourself to get up and make it to your 8 a.m. There’s a lot of homework, a lot of reading, a lot of papers.
It’s a huge transition. I think a lot of people focus on telling you that college is fun and you make lots of memories and that it’s basically the epitome of your young adult life, and they forget to mention that it’s going to be really, really tough.
You’re going to have to try really hard. You’re going to study long hours to ace your finals, stay up crazy late to finish your paper that’s due in the morning (because one more episode of "The Office" accidentally turned into seven more episodes of "The Office"), and you’re going to have a couple mental breakdowns.
So yeah, college kind of sucks. I’ll be the first to admit it. And if this long, terrible, challenging semester has taught me anything, it’s taught me that while college sucks…
I still really love it. And yeah, it’s hard, but okay, college is really awesome too.
Because although I probably need someone to tell me not to eat ice cream for dinner, it’s freeing to be able to make that choice for myself.
Because studying my heart out and taking challenging classes is hard work, it’s taught me valuable lessons in time management and perseverance.
Because at the end of this week, when finals are over and I have officially survived my first semester of college, I’ll have something to be really proud of.
College isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. But for those of us here, facing the struggle: just because you admit that it’s hard doesn’t mean that you admit defeat. In fact, let that motivate you more. Look your finals in the face, play Miley Cyrus’ “Climb” and say:
Hey. This class has kicked my butt, but it’s time for me to return the favor. Bring it on, because I’m ready.
College is pretty tough, but remember that you are pretty tough too.
You've almost made it through an entire semester, and that's a huge accomplishment in itself. So get out there and show finals week how you finish strong.
