Senior year of high school arrives, and there is so much to do! You have your first day of senior year pictures, you have to start applying to schools, and obviously start fighting with your parents more than you ever thought possible. The idea of going to college cannot come soon enough. You need to get out of your house and be on your own with your own rules and own terms for the way you want to live. However, this is a reminder of all the things to appreciate before your senior year comes to a close!

1. Before you know it, you will be looking back on your college process experience and laughing.

Whether you apply ED, EA, or regular to your number one choice, it seems like the biggest deal in the world if you do not get in. These feelings are totally valid, however, they are just a sign that it was not your number one school.

Sure, you might have fallen in love with the campus and the classes and the parties when you visited overnight (sorry mom and dad), but any school that does not accept you does not deserve you. No matter what school you go to, you will still make the same number of friends and make the same college experiences you want to make.

2. No one cares once you get to college about what schools you applied to, or if your school was originally your number one choice.

I can't stress this enough. No one asks me "was PSU your first choice? Did you get rejected from any schools?"

This simply does not happen. No one cares about where you almost went or where you originally wanted to go - people only care about where you are. Everyone is in the same boat at college, so don't stress about what people might be thinking in high school.

3. Appreciate your teachers. In high school, you have the ability to create close relationships with your teachers.

When you are in college, you may be in lectures with more than 600 people and there is no possible way for the teacher to get to know and love everyone the way your high school teachers knew and loved you. Your teachers are there for you and want you to succeed - appreciate it while you still have them. And make sure to keep in touch with your teachers when you leave school!

4. Do not give into senioritis - push through. I can think back to so many nights where I had to force myself to even open my backpack.

It is important to finish your year strong, just the way you started it. You should respect yourself and your teachers enough to show love and appreciation for the education you have been receiving.

5. Your high school friends are and always will be your OG friends.

I absolutely love my college friends and can not imagine my life before them.

However, your high school friends have seen you through a whole different lens. They have seen you get into screaming matches with your parents, your first kiss, your first heartbreak, and some of your most awkward phases.

Take in lunch periods where you can all sit at a table and eat together every day, and cherish the weeknights where you all randomly decide to meet at a restaurant for dinner. These moments may not seem super special in the moment as you are used to them - but I promise you that once you get to school, you will look back on them with such appreciation.

6. Your parents do know what is best.

Whether they are telling you to look at specific colleges that they think will be a good fit, or giving you one too many tweaks on your common app essay, they are simply trying to help. Let them embarrass you on college tours by asking questions that the tour guide just answered, or questions that you don't even care to hear the answers for.

This experience is just as confusing for them as it is for you. No matter how excited you are for your future, they are a million times more excited for you. And no matter how nervous you are, they are a billion times more nervous WITH you.