Dear College Freshmen,

I would like to start off by saying congratulations! You made it to your first year of college. You are entering a brand new place with brand new people, and from this day forward you should savor every minute of it. These next four years are all about finding yourself and having an awesome time doing it. Some people even say these will be the best for years of your life, but, if you do it right, these four years will just be the beginning of the best years of the rest of your life.

However, let me be honest here for a second- the scary truth is that not everyone makes it. Some people will leave after first semester, and some people will even leave after the first week. Although college is a really good experience, people forget that in order to stay you have to put in work and take care of yourself. This means you need to get up and actually go to class, even if you need to set eight alarms. Also, if you never studied in high school that is going to change in college, and chances are you are even going to have assignments due the first week of classes. It's definitely not impossible, but can be a big adjustment from a lazy senior year of high school.

Luckily, college is not all about work. There are parties and bars to help you escape the insanity of studying. This, too, comes with responsibility though. The bottom line is to be smart and know your limits- if you can do that you should have no problem. The only other negative to this is that the freshman 15 in totally real, and if you think it all comes from the cafeteria food, think again. While it may mostly come from the food, a lot of it also comes from alcohol. Don't believe me? Google calories in different drinks, you'll thank me later.

Before all the classes and parties though is the day you are at now, or are approaching- the day you move in. As you set up your dorm room and get aquatinted with your new roommates for the upcoming year it will be completely normal to feel a little melancholy. The atmosphere you are used to and the people you normally surround yourself with are no longer there everyday. The good news is that you will get used to it, sometimes is just takes a little while to get comfortable. Do not feel embarrassed if your parents want to hang out for a little while to help you with everything or walk around campus with you before they leave because this change is just as hard for them as it is for you.

Believe it or not, in a couple of weeks you are actually going to miss them and want to be home in your clean house, and eating something other than quesadillas from the dining hall. Then, before they finally do leave, make sure you thank them for everything they have done for you, taught you, and bought you in order for you to get to where you are now.

My most important piece of advice to leave you with though is sort of cliche, but totally necessary- do not be afraid to be yourself here. At first, it may be easier to just fit in with your roommates and do everything together, but if you are not doing what makes you happy this will get old very quickly. I said earlier that college is all about finding yourself, but sometimes it is easy to lose yourself before you get there.

Things eventually fall into place and you will find your group of friends. With that, you can branch out and be involved in whatever appeals to you. Remember, this is going to be your home for the next four years so do not spend your time here trying to please everyone around you, do what you need to do for you.

So good luck! Make good decisions, study hard, and don't be afraid to have a little fun. Today you begin to write a new chapter in your life, be sure to make it something worth reading!

Sincerely,

A College Student Who Was In Your Place Not Too Long Ago