1. College is SO MUCH HARDER than it was 30, or even 15 years ago.

Engineers now don’t just learn how to code or how to solve math problems. They must learn how to create programming languages. Our professors just can’t learn and teach fast enough to keep up with the times. Medicine and law have been revolutionized in our lifetime. Communication Arts, Education, Nursing, whatever it may be, we not only must learn the history and the basics, but the technology, the future, and the social expectations. Not to mention the fact that we must also create revolutionary ideas on the daily just to keep up with the world around us.

2. Even if we graduate with honors in a STEM major and have tons of involvement and volunteer work, we are still likely to be unemployed

With how normal it is to go to college, we can’t even rely on undergrad to be successful. Almost all of us will have to go back to school to keep up with our careers, and we will still be paying off the loans from our first four to five years. If we choose a state school to save money, we may not get into our classes or graduate on time. If we don’t have a job and we move home, we are written-off as lazy and entitled. It did not matter that we were the president of a student organization, a regular volunteer, a Magna cum lade graduate, or a reliable employee.

3. Yes, our anxiety and depression epidemics are real. No, it isn’t because we are snowflakes.

We are burnt out. We have been working too hard for too long to finally get to the working world and settle for a job that is just okay. We are tired of social media hurting our self-esteem. We are in more emotionally abusive and toxic relationships than ever before. We are placed under so much pressure as early as middle school to be thinking about college. God forbid we fall short. Then we get to look at our phones, TV screens, computers, emails, and those around us to live in a constant reminder of all the people around us who didn’t fall short. Call it what you will, it is damaging.

4. Chances are, we probably weren’t spoiled. We grew up post-9/11 and during a recession.

Yes, we have iPhones. Please tell me how easy it is to find a flip phone that works effectively today? Just because we don’t have an iPhone doesn’t mean we can delay responding to emails, calling someone back, or risking not having the chance to take down a potential employer’s information. We have more technology because we need it to keep up, much less get ahead. But when we almost lost our homes and saw our parents lose their jobs, we weren’t whining for ponies and diamonds at Christmas.

5. Our childhoods and college days were never about “kids being kids.” They were about straight A’s, college applications, future careers, being involved, and hours of AP homework.

In high school, I remember waking up at 5:00 am to get to my zero-period class so I would have room to take additional AP classes while still being in two sports. I was the president of a club, in the National Honor Society, I worked thirty hours a week for the better part of two full school years and over full time during the summers. I had college applications, volunteer requirements, after-school obligations, and if I was lucky, I had one lunch period a day without a club meeting to eat with my friends.

Every night, I would get home no earlier than 9 PM and when I did, I had about an hour of homework for each of my seven classes. Sure, I enjoyed a good amount of the stuff I did and the people that were there. But was it the carefree childhood adults always tell me I will wish to return to? Not at all. I can’t wait for the days of waking up at 6 or even 7 in the morning and getting home even as late as 8 pm and not having homework left to do. I yearn for the days of work, family, and home.

6. Yes, we are salty about how expensive college is.

We can’t pay off a month of tuition with our summer job because you all told us that if we go to college, we will be successful. Now everyone goes to college, so it is too expensive to pay off in a full lifetime. And we aren’t successful when we graduate because everyone goes to college and it isn’t a good enough qualification for an entry-level job anymore.

7. Please STOP comparing your high school, or college, or young professional lives with ours.

It's just different. We had more change technologically in the last fifteen years than you did in your whole life. And we were expected to not only use it but be ahead of it. The differences don’t end at technology, but that example alone makes a pretty good point.

8. We had to keep up with technology just like you did.

So please stop asking me how to work your printer and Google it.

9. Everything you told us about going to college and getting a great long-term career was a lie.

One career? Getting hired into a job we love out of college? Getting a job out of college? This is so far from the norm it is not even funny.

10. Stop expecting us to act like adults while you treat us like stupid kids.

Call us snowflakes, tell us we are lazy and don’t get it, tell us we will wish for our childhood again and we don’t understand the adult world. Tell us that we need to grow up and stop whining about our depression. Keep telling us that you know everything. It's condescending and hurtful. If you show us mutual respect. If you get to our level and understand truly what it is like to be a Millennial. If you stop trying to be an all-knowing adult. Just then, you might understand that we aren’t kids. We’ve risen to the challenges of being an adult faster and better than any other generation.

We care about our people, the community, the less fortunate and the climate. We want to change the world and we want to work hard. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. We do more in a day than most people do in a week. We start businesses in high school, create technology and re-write the rules. We are so much more than silly kids. We want you to see that, but we need you to recognize our adulthood before we can ever begin to work together.