Every year the same speech is given to hundreds of eager 18-year-olds in cap and gowns itching to hear their name called so they can finally go out into the world and never look back. The speech starts with a story of how the speaker sat where the graduates are now sitting, followed by how they earned success and finished with fun little words of advice to never give up and always work hard. At the time, that speech seemed fitting to tell naive 18-year-olds to follow their dreams. I wish someone stood up there and told me the realities. Don’t get me wrong, nothing is more empowering than a good 'ole success story from someone that came from your neck of the woods, but after four years of “pursuing my dream” after high school, there was so much more no one warned me about. I wish someone would have told me I was going to fail; I was going to fail a million times at a million different things but told me that I also needed to fail. I needed to fail to learn how to succeed. I wish someone stood up there and told me it wasn’t our economy that was going to make finding a job hard, it was taking the classes and trying to pass the finals that were going to make me question if I would ever even make it to the job search part of life. I wish someone gave me advice on how to grocery shop and cheap meals that didn’t include ramen. I wish someone stood up there and told me that the majority of us would probably fail a class just on the sheer laziness and irresponsible decision to go out every weekend rather than study, but that it's okay because life was full of choices and opportunity costs and classes can always be retaken. I wish they told me that they changed their minds a million times on where they wanted to go in life too. A speech about how to make laundry last months would have been nice too. I wish they told me I was going to meet my lifetime friends and that the freshman fifteen is very real because of pizza and beer. Just once someone should stand up there and look everyone in the eye and tell me the key to success was Redbull and coffee. Hearing that professors weren’t going to be like your high school teachers that doubled as your sports coach would have been nice too. That going to office hours might be the most intimidating thing in the world, but is the best ticket to getting that extra bump on your final grade. So grads, here’s the advice you may not hear at your long speech; and even if they did say it you still wouldn’t hear it because your mind is already on that party you and your classmates have been planning since last year's grads graduated. You’re not in high school anymore. It’s hard. You’re going to mess up, and when you do, it’s all on you: no one else to blame. You’re also going to have the time of your life. You’re going to grow and change in ways you never thought, and it's scary and exciting and worth every all-nighter. It’s gonna be hella expensive and from here on out no matter what, you’re always gonna be broke. But every second of college is priceless.