All throughout high school, you’re told how amazing college will be. You’re told how much better college is than high school, and that college will be the greatest four years of your life.
So then you say you can’t wait until graduation. You start counting down the days until your last day of high school. You dream about all of the things people have told you about college, and you absolutely cannot wait. You plan out your college dorm, your college schedule, all of the clubs you want to join, and the type of person you want to be in college. It is all so exciting and you cannot wait to see what your university has in store for you.
But then you get to college and you start seeing it for what it really is. The transition is tough, classes are hard, and you’re expected to grow up so fast. You miss your family, your miss your friends, and you miss that little pizza parlor you used to spend so much of your time at.
To make it simple, you miss high school.
And then you’re homesick. You may even contemplate transferring to a community college. Or commuting. You wish with all of your heart that you could return to your days of high school because you now realize how different the reality of college is from your expectations.
So, to the college student who misses high school,
I understand what you’re going through, but I am here to tell you that it’s okay to miss the past. In fact, you are expected to miss the way things used to be. It’s okay to miss your family and your best friends. It’s okay to miss your mom's cooking and the way your dog greets you every time you walk through your front door. It’s okay to not have met your college best friends yet. It’s okay to feel scared about the future and confused about the person you want to be. It’s okay to not have the picture-perfect freshman year experience you have always dreamt of.
One day, you’ll wake up and things will be different. It might be next week, or even next year. But that day will soon come. You’ll realize you don’t miss high school so much anymore. You’ll have found the college friends you have always read about in Odyssey articles. You’ll realize the future you want and that despite all of the uncertainty you had freshman year, you’ll recognize that it led you to the place you are at now: the place where you are happy, the place where you no longer miss high school.
So please give college a chance. Let the uncertainties take their toll. Let freshman year take you on a crazy ride. Embrace all of the emotions you are feeling because in time, you will soon be happy.
Good things are to come, but you must be patient. Keep reminding yourself that all of these feelings you have are temporary and that one day, you’ll have the college experience you have always dreamt of.
So stop worrying, start living, and remember: even if your freshman year of college isn’t the greatest year of your life, you still have three more years to make it amazing.
Sincerely,
A sophomore who went through the same thing you are currently going through.
