Everyone has expectations, going into college. Before going off to college you often hear the phrase “these will be the best years of your life,” and you can’t help but believe that they will be. College is a time to reinvent yourself and make changes in your life and start over from high school, but it’s not always that easy, and I’m here to tell you some things that you should know before starting your first semester.
1. Really enjoy your senior year.
You’re officially at the top of the food chain in terms of high school. You’ve made it through three previous years of stress, and the senioritis has officially kicked in. It can be stressful to try and make those last two semesters academically successful in order to get into your top-choice college, but don’t let that stop you from going out and have fun. Once you start college, congratulations, you’re officially an adult; that means you have to do your own laundry, find your own food, and worry about your future career, so enjoy your last year because it can really fly by.
2. Your high school friends might not be long term.
You make plans to visit each other in college and you may start off talking every day, but in some cases it just ends without warning. You just have to try and accept it and hope that one day you can work it out with that person, and if it doesn't work out, college is that time to find people who are willing to be in your life for the long run.
3. It’s OK to question your major.
I thought I had it all planned out and that I would stick with my major no matter what, but I quickly began to wonder if this is what I really wanted to do. I’m still very much on the fence about it, but my philosophy is that if you don’t question your major at least once (more like every day), you’re doing something wrong. (Or maybe right, who am I to judge?)
4. It's OK to switch your major.
Once you declare a major, it's not the end all be all. You can definitely switch your major, whether it's the first semester of your college career, or the end. There's always time to switch if you really feel like your major doesn't suit you.
5. College isn’t for everyone.
I clearly remember being told in first grade that if you don’t go to college, you won’t get a job. Society has pressured us to do well in school and succeed, all so we can get into a decent college, but some people just can’t deal with college when they get there, and that’s OK. If you feel like college isn’t the right thing for you, take some time off and reevaluate what you want to do. You have so much time to figure it out, so don’t feel pressured into staying in college when you know it doesn’t fit your life.
Take time for yourself.
Last semester I was so stressed about getting good grades that I avoided talking to my best friend because I didn’t want them to worry, but I should have talked to them about it and then figured out ways to relax and try to do things for me. I put my grades first above one of my most important relationships when it should have been the other way around. So it’s OK to occasionally take time to call someone or go out with friends and push back doing your homework. Don’t ruin relationships over school.
Each person’s college experience is dramatically different. Some of these things may apply to you when you start college, and maybe you’ll figure out some things you wish you could have done differently when you started your first semester. At the end of the day you need to do what’s best for you, and be kind and forgiving to yourself if something in your life doesn’t go as planned.
