Being a sophomore in college and just having turned 19 is the worst. All of my friends are way older than me, and sometimes it’s not fun being the youngest. You’re always the last one to be able to do things, and you're also the last one to graduate. Here are some reasons why being the youngest is a struggle:
All your friends refer to you as the “baby” of the group. Some of my friends are only a few months older, but regardless, I’m forever the “baby” of the group. They all give me “life” advice even though they’re barely older than me, but who doesn’t love getting amazing life advice?
Meeting people younger than you feels like a holy grail. I’m honestly surprised whenever I meet people that are younger than me, because I’m so used to being the youngest in anything.
Your friends can do “big kid” stuff, as I like to call it. Being the youngest means you’re the last to turn 18 and 21. When all my friends turned 18, I just sat back and watched them do legal things like buying lottery tickets and getting tattoos. Now that most of my friends are 21 or about to turn 21, I just watch them go out.
You have ridiculous nicknames. Besides being referred as the baby of the group, my friends have come up with some ridiculous nicknames for me. My friends call me “the bottom of the food chain” and “lil homie,” because I’m so young.
People always assume you’re a freshman. This one doesn’t bother me too much, but it’s still a struggle. Everyone assumes you’re new and sometimes a new member can mistake you for being a new member as well.
You more than likely have a baby face. If you have a baby face, you know that people always think that you’re adorable and have cute cheeks. The majority of my friends say I have a baby face and always want to pinch my cheeks because of “how cute they are.”
You’re most likely the last one to graduate. If you’re as young as me, I’m going to end up being the last one of out my friends to graduate college. All of my friends are juniors and seniors, and I’m over here like “Oh, hey! I’m still a freshman-sophomore, but it’s fine!”
People assume you’re really smart and skipped a grade. Although I’m flattered by this comment, I did not skip a grade. I always feel like I started school early, but my parents swear I didn't. My birthday was just before the deadline, so, no, I did not skip a grade.
Regardless of the fact that I’m the youngest out of all my friends, being the youngest does have some perks, like sometimes being the oldest of new friends and forever looking younger than you really are. Being the youngest is a struggle most of the time, but I would rather be the youngest than the oldest.
