Before you leave for college, you'll hear a million times that it should be the best four years of your life.
It's a lot of pressure to both succeed in school, decide what you want to do for the rest of your life, have the best time of your life, make friends and memories, and keep your life together when you have no idea where your life is going. I'm here to tell you a few things that will make you feel better, because I know what you're going through.
It's okay to change your major.
Whoever decided that you have to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life (while finding happiness in it for the rest of your life), at the age of 18 or 19, was absolutely crazy. Yes, there are people who know what they want to do from the time they're six years old, but that is SO rare.
Change your major! Hell, don't even decide on a major until you have to at the end of your sophomore year. Take as many different classes as you can, and if you still can't decide, pick a broad major that you have so many careers to choose from once you graduate. It's okay to change your major!
It's okay to transfer.
If you're unhappy where you are and you have tried to make it work and you can't find people to hang out with who make you happy, or classes or anything about the school you're at that genuinely makes you happy: LEAVE.
I know it's hard when you don't want to disappoint people, especially when it's someone like your parents who want you to try to stick it out at a school and make it work, but in the long run, you're only going to be miserable. It's okay to transfer schools and get a complete change of scenery. It could make the world of difference!
It's okay to not make your best friends in college.
This one is tough because sometimes you see everyone around you making best friends and lifetime connections at college and you feel like you're missing out. You feel like you don't know what you did wrong because you didn't find your ride or die in your sorority or as your roommate.
That's okay! You will make friends who will be in your life forever in college, but they don't have to be your absolute best friend. You can still have the best friend from the time you were 2 years old, and it's okay. Regardless, don't get caught up on what others are doing - just take care of yourself.
Graduation is daunting and no one expects you to have it all figured out.
Yes, you can argue this and I'm sure you will say that your parents will expect you to have it figured out - you do not need to. You could graduate, get a job you hate, and decide to go back to school. You could graduate, not get a job for a year and then all of a sudden find yourself changing your course altogether. It's okay to not know what full-time job you're going to have or where you're going to live or have it all figured out.
It'll all be okay.
There's really no explanation for this one, except that it will be. You will figure it out. You will succeed when and where you're meant to. It will all be okay eventually. College might not be the best four years of your life, but know that you'll grow and learn so much about the world and yourself. It'll be a crazy ride but so beautifully worth it.
