Whenever people think about college they think of the freedom and fun that they will experience for the “four best years of their lives.” What they do not think about is all the stress and bureaucracy that comes along with it. They don’t think about the days when you wake up and tear up when your teacher pushed back a deadline or when you stay up until 4 am finishing a project. They don’t think about the fact that in order to live on campus again you have to fill out a form saying you want to live there, then get a lottery number of when you choose your housing, then put your preferences for housing, and then finally you get your housing assignment.

Sure, when you go to college you are further away from your parens and have all this independence, but at the end of the day it is still school. Most high school seniors are coming to college after basically spending all of second semester just skipping class and then all summer just being with your friends. You then come to college and get to experience sylly week (syllabus week) which is basically more summer vacation but then the painful reality will hit. Trust me you won’t even suspect it.

Two rounds of midterms, endless papers, and online homework will smack you on the side of the head like a sucker punch. Teachers who don’t round grades up so you end up with a 89.5 and still get a B+ will exist and will test your sanity. Days where you spend basically 12 hours in the library and only eat granola bars happen once in a while.

Don’t get me wrong, college is still so much better than high school and is an amazing place, but be realistic. No matter where you go you are still in school so all those thing you dreaded in high school will probably still exist but in slightly different ways. Get ready to do all the things you wanted and then a lot you didn’t because thats just how college works.