Have you ever taken the time to really reflect on how much you've changed over your four years as a college student? Odds are, you might have thought about how you've changed since freshman year, but perhaps not in so extensive of a manner that doing so literally made you laugh and think, "WOW! I really have changed!"

This Odyssey article is my attempt to try to accomplish that goal for the purpose of de-stressing you from whatever you've got going on right now during this second week of fall semester at UCF. Hopefully, my analyses aren't too far off.

1. In freshman year, you were...

The kind of student who was either missing their parents terribly (probably WAY more than you should have), or was so immensely relieved with the idea that you could now get away with doing practically anything you wanted.

You went on a HUGE shopping spree the instant you discovered your campus store to buy merchandise that would make every one of your friends think that they made the mistake of not attending your university instead. You decorated your room with all of the crafts and cute things you could get your hands on over the summer, and your first time waking up in your dorm room was the first day your life actually began.

Rush week was the week that was going to determine your "coolness" level for the rest of your college career, and you thought that literally EVERYTHING about your campus was perfect and beautiful (even your cramped dorm room).

One of the goals you had was to date at least one person so that you wouldn't be forced to go through your first few months of college alone, and the most terrifying experiences you had were running late to class or failing an assignment or exam.

You knew exactly what you wanted to major in, the kind of career you wanted to pursue, and instantly became best friends with your roommate(s) who you promised would be your bridesmaids at your wedding.The more friends you made, the better, because that meant you'd always have someone to hang out with for lunch, dinner, or even the walk in-between classes.

In short, this was the year you viewed everything (and I mean everything) as being perfect. You felt like a real adult every time you simply purchased something or got up in the morning. You felt like you had your life together in every possible way, and had the mindset that it was just going to keep getting better as time went on.

2. In sophomore year, you were...

The kind of student who knew their campus and the people in it. In fact, you probably ended up breaking up with that one person you dated in freshman year because of the fact that you finally knew what you were doing (as well as all of the dating options available to you). You knew what you wanted to do with your life, although sometimes you'd end up questioning your choices and abilities.

After living with your roommate(s) for a year, you realized how unbearable the experience of living with them actually was, and you even attempted to apply for a single living space only to find out that there weren't any available or that you had to be a junior or senior in standing in order to do so.

You never actually ended up wearing all of that merchandise you bought during freshman year, and you much rather preferred to sit alone during lunch or dinner just so you could avoid having to waste your precious time talking to people rather than getting caught up with your work (which you never actually did).

In summary, this was the year that you were pretty much completely comfortable with the whole "college" thing. You definitely weren't as motivated or as excited about it as you were during freshman year, but you knew you had better keep your priorities straight if you wanted to pave a good future for yourself.

3. In junior year, you were...

The kind of student who would constantly feel surprised with the thought that they were already halfway done with their college career. Failing an assignment or major exam was definitely NOT an option, otherwise the rest of your life was going to have absolutely no meaning to it. You might even argue that you were finally certain of the kind of life you wanted and knew exactly what you had to do in order to obtain it.

Perhaps you even had your first real college relationship with the one person who made you think "Oh! So THIS is what they meant when they said you'll meet "the one" in college!"

You knew both the good and the bad of your campus, and the opportunity to sleep was an extremely rare and HUGE blessing (although you actually ended up dedicating more than enough time to sleeping than you probably should have).You discovered that living on your own/commuting was far better than living with a roommate(s), but there were also times where you missed having their company.

You also began to demean and question yourself about how many classes you had left before you could graduate from college like a few of your friends had already, while at the same time forgetting to think about the fact that all of you had been pursuing different majors and/or minors with different requirements. Most of your energy was produced by a quick snack or two, although the occasional pizza was thought to be a gourmet meal by both you and your peers.

In short, this was the year that your life was making complete sense to you, but at the same time, you weren't exactly sure on everything about it yet. As a result, you (hopefully) took the entire summer in between this year and senior year to really think about and determine what you had to do in order to make living a decent life after college a reality for yourself.

4. As a senior, you are...

Constantly informing all of your family and friends about how ready and excited you are to FINALLY graduate and be done with all of the papers, assignments, and exams (which I've heard you'll miss eventually) and move on with your life.

You have days where you really don't want to do anything but relax and eat fatty foods, but at the same time, you know your life will be completely meaningless if you don't suck it up and start doing what you've got to do in order to graduate and go out into the world when everyone else is expecting you to. You've dedicated extensive (and possibly very unhealthy) amounts of your time to thinking about how devastating it's going to be to have to say goodbye to the beautiful campus, organizations, and friends you've gotten to know and love for the past 3 years.

Maybe you're even stressing about your ability to study for and ace that MCAT, LSAT, or GRE that will serve as your gateway to graduate school and the rest of your life (for real this time). However, you know that your life is going to be beautiful and everything you want it to be as long as you keep your priorities straight and refuse to take the easy way out.

It is throughout these past 3 years of college that you've learned more about yourself and grown in ways that you would've never saw yourself learning and growing as that peppy little freshman. Don't let the real world scare you. Let the world be surprised by what you now (or will) have to offer it by the time you're ready to conquer it.