The time has come! You have officially completed your normative education. Now you are onto the next step, college. As a graduating senior, you may be feeling one of two things: ready to get out of the house or ready to crawl into a hole and die because you feel unprepared.
Well for those who are wanting to crawl into a hole, this is for you.
First things first, one of the best pieces of college advice anyone can give you is - you are never going to feel prepared for the next step. It does not matter if you know what your major is going into college, once you get to your college graduation, you will be in the same boat. But know that it is okay to not be ready for the next step. And do not let this freak you out, let it comfort you because you're no different being a senior in high school than what a senior in college is feeling.
Not feeling ready, is the perfect amount of anxiety to drive you to do your research so that you can best prepare yourself for the next step. Hence, why you are reading this article.
So take a deep breath, know that you are human.
Secondly, the best way to prepare for college is to do exactly what you are doing, research. Reading advice columns written by yours truly, or heck check out other articles about preparing for college written by other creators of this site, or asking friends or family who are in or has been in college for advice is the best thing to do to prepare.
Everyone has their own unique college experiences, so by gathering as many perspectives on dorm room decor, roommates, classes, and so on will help you figure out the best ways to go about things like picking a roommate, knowing where to live, what to buy, and what to expect.
Thirdly, learn how to manage your time now. You may think you are the best at time management; however, college is a whole other ballpark when it comes to time. There are so many things, events, classes, assignments, friends that will want to take up your time. You're going to have to learn how to juggle a social life, sleep life, and academic life like you have never believed. The number one thing incoming freshmen struggle with is learning how to do this. Get ahead of the curve and begin to research and train yourself on how to best manage your time.
Lastly, take the time to ask your parents, guardian, friends mom, your neighbor - whoever, to show you how to do simple tasks that you may not know now. Such as: how to do laundry, how to fold laundry, how to grocery shop, how to cook simple meals, how to cook microwave mac n cheese (trust me, some people are clueless).
The hardest part about college is learning how to do things on your own because, guess what, mommy and daddy are not going to be there to do it for you anymore. Best to learn it now than to be that kid acting completely clueless in the laundry room and adding bleach to their dark colors. College is an exciting time to learn independence, but you have to have the skills to be independent.
Teach yourself these skills now, so that you can rock it your freshman year.
