Past Honor Student,

I’m sure if you're reading this you and I have come across an unfortunate reality. The institute of higher education, or college as some may say, is not as friendly and comfortable as those high school classes. In fact, college is a whole new playing field and maybe, frankly, you aren’t even playing the same game anymore. I know what it’s like— to be taken from the one thing that you’ve known your whole life. My whole life before college was school, and I was good at it, some would even say great, but coming to college this wasn’t enough. But even if you find yourself in this same situation, there are things I want you to know and things I want you to remember.

Please know that it is okay to ask for help. Maybe you didn’t need it in high school and that’s okay, but if you need it in college please don’t be afraid to ask for it. It is not a sign of failure or a depletion of character, it is rather a sign that you know you cannot do it on your own. No one really gets through college alone anyways. Trust me. Learn the value of a strong study group, I promise you won’t regret it.

Recently, during one of my own many existential breakdowns I’ve had since coming to school, I heard some of the words I needed to hear most, and now I want to share them with you. I was talking to my grandpa and telling him how discouraged I was because my exam grades weren’t reflecting the hard work I’ve been known for my whole life. He got very serious very fast and told me, “You are not a quitter. You have it in your genes not to be.” Now, I know that these words are simple and may not seem like much but really reflect on them for a moment. You are not a quitter. You have gotten this far due to a drive and a fire inside of you and I guarantee you can find that again. Your brain is too great to give up now. You cannot let this bump in the road be debilitating. Go out and seek help or study more or do whatever you have to do to get where you want to go because I know I can, which means you can too.

As I said, school was my “thing.” It was what I was good at. My fun fact for all of those awkward introductory games they make you play the first few weeks of classes? Yeah mine was usually about the school competitions I won or clubs I was in in high school. My first round of exams though? I had the wind knocked out of me. I don’t think I really experienced true loss until I realized that the one thing I thought I had going for me wasn’t mine anymore.

Then I realized this, it was all still mine. Everything I knew, everything I had learned was still a part of me. Your knowledge can never be taken away from you, even though your confidence can. So even if college is different from what you expected, if your grades aren’t what you’re used to and you can’t wrap your mind around how all of this could’ve changed so quickly, slow down. Remember that you are still you. Your brain power wasn’t sucked out of you, you just need to learn a new technique to exert all of that intelligence into your schoolwork. That honors student didn’t just disappear. That piece of you can not be taken away and it can only diminish if you let it. Don’t let all of your hard work dwindle away because you lost your confidence. Believe in your abilities, they’ve gotten you this far.

It takes a special kind of person to look difficulty in the eye and then refuse to let it defeat you. I hope that you are this type of person. If so, you are brilliant, and I hope the world fills up with more people like you. I hope you never lose faith in yourself because you’ve gotten this far and I know you can keep going. I hope that you’re able to find a peace and I hope you don’t get angry with yourself because you aren't the “honors student” anymore. I’ve found that a little hard work and a lot of perseverance can get you anywhere you want to go. I hope you find this to be true too.

Best of luck in all of your endeavors,

a friend.