Spring is a season of renewal and rebirth. Couples get hitched (“Ring by Spring” is cliché for a reason), animals of all kinds have babies (even the human ones) and the snow melts off the ground (and the grass has finally stopped being squishy). It’s wonderful, really. There’s a certain air about the season that has everyone light on their feet, ready to experience life’s upcoming changes. This is especially the case for a particular fraction of the populous during this time of year: high school seniors.

While there is a lot of excitement and eagerness that comes with being a high school senior, most seniors also experience a stage of sheer terror of the unknown. This fear of the unknown can stem from a vast multitude of different contingencies as each person’s decision process is unique to their circumstances. Well, after spending a year at college and thereby becoming extremely wise and knowledgeable (she says with dripping sarcasm), I am here to tell that terrified high school senior what I’ve learned about planning for college after graduation. So listen up, Squirt.

Dear young grasshopper,

So you’re almost done with high school, huh? I bet your senioritis has already set in, and you’ve stopped caring so much about finishing your homework with all your previous fervor and diligence. You’ve got more important things to worry about, like seeing if you got accepted into your dream school or figuring which college is going to offer you the most academic scholarship, right? You’re probably stressing yourself out, weighing the pros and cons of each school, writing letters and filling out applications rampantly so that you make just the right college decision. However, there’s also a good chance you’re trying to decide whether or not you’re even ready to go off to college. You might be telling yourself, “There’s no way I’m mature enough yet” or “I swear I just turned 12 yesterday. How am I already here?” or even “I don’t even know how to balance a checkbook! There’s no way I’m ready to be an adult yet!”

Well I’ll let you in on a little secret — are you ready? College isn’t a place you go to be an adult. I know, it’s crazy, right? I mean it.

I’ll say it again: College isn’t a place you go to be an adult. It’s a place you go to become an adult. People at college don’t expect you to get everything right on your first try. College is a place to grow and to learn how to do adult things in a somewhat safe and isolated setting. You’re surrounded by hundreds of other people who are just as clueless as you are, and you all learn how to have fun while in this process of becoming adults.

Now, I’m not saying college is a place to be careless or revel in your newfound freedom by acting in whatever childish ways sound entertaining. That’s certainly not what college is about, and if you think that is what it’s about, you’re doing it wrong. No, rather, I’m saying that college is a place you come to exit your childhood gradually by learning to take responsibility for your actions and to do things well all by yourself. All I’m saying is that you’re not completely an adult yet, regardless of the legal definition of adulthood. You have a long way to go before some childish fun is inappropriate (if it ever is).

I kid you not, as I sit in my dorm and write this, a group of guys are running down the street outside my window, jumping, yelling and making rabid dog noises. Like I said, being in college does not mean being an adult. It simply means striving to become one while learning about life and growing in community alongside others in the same position as you.

A year ago, I was in this same position, trying to decide if I was even mature enough to go to an out-of-state university all by myself. For the majority of my senior year, I had planned on taking a gap year immediately after graduation because I thought I needed one more year of maturing before I could enter into “the real world” of college. I told myself the same things you might be telling yourself now — that I wasn’t mature enough and that I sure as hell didn’t know how to balance a checkbook (surprise: I still don’t).

While a gap year wouldn’t have been exactly awful and is certainly the right choice for some people, I couldn’t be more grateful that I chose to skip the gap year. I too incorrectly thought that I had to be a full-grown adult who knew the answers to life before I could step foot on a college campus, and I too came to recognize the errors in such thinking. College is the perfect Segway between a safe, protected environment of living with parents who pay for all your basic necessities and the “real world” that requires you to be an adult and get things done correctly the first time around. It is the bridge between being dependent on others to supply everything for you and becoming an independent, responsible human being who is capable of making decisions for him/herself.

I’m nearing the end of my freshman year of college and I can’t believe how exponentially I seem to have grown since coming here. I have an entirely newfound sense of self-responsibility and intentionality that is implemented in my everyday decisions. Of course, it’s been hard to learn certain things without the help of my parents — I didn’t say coming into adulthood was easy. It is, however, a beautiful and exhilarating process that I feel every person deserves to experience.

So, young grasshopper, does college still seem ridiculously scary? Because that’s okay — in fact, it’s good. The idea of entering into the process of saying goodbye to your childhood should be a little scary because it’s a big deal. However, it’s also a wonderful gift which you’ve been given that you should most certainly make the most of.

College may be scary, but boy, is it good too. I could spend at least another 500 words telling you all the hilarious and fantastic things that have happened to me since coming to college that have made it beyond worth while. But, instead, I think it’s better I leave you to figure out the experiences which make college such a good thing. All I can tell you is that it’s a real privilege to be able to receive such a good education while living in a community of brilliant people, all pursuing their passions and working diligently to enter into that journey called adulthood. Just trust me on this one, okay?

Sincerely,

I’m still not even sure what true adulthood means.

(And, your friend, Janelle Honeycutt.)