I honestly get so annoyed when I hear people say things like "High school will be the best time of your life," "You're going to miss it when you graduate," and "Don't take it for granted." Well, guess what? If high school was the best time of my life, I might as well give up now. Because it was miserable.
1. Everyone is extremely judgemental
It honestly amazed me how judgemental some people could be. I had someone walk up to me and tell me that it looked like I got my pants out of a dumpster and I should put them back in there, along with myself. Who the actual heck does that? HIgh schoolers, that's who. In college, people literally do not care. There are girls wearing dresses and heels telling the girl in PJs that she loves her look. There are guys in band tees telling preppy guys that they have nice shoes. You don't get that in high school. You get "I cannot believe you're wearing that" comments, instead.
2. The friends are SO fake
You may think that you have found best friends for life, but you're probably wrong. You'll find "friends" who only want to talk to you so that they can hear your drama, then they'll go tell everyone else. You'll have the "friends" who are only your friends when they need something. Then, worst of all, you'll find the "friends" you really think are your friends. You'll hang out, you'll take pictures, you'll have inside jokes, but without you even realizing what's happening, you lose them, too. They start hanging out with someone new, only texting you on occasion. In college, I made a different kind of friendship: The kind that I know will last a lifetime because even though we have already been through big fights, we still talk every day and make more plans than I had ever wanted to in high school.
3. High school athletes are the worst
High school athletes are literally the worst. They think they run the school, that they get paid to be there, and that they bless everyone else with their presence. It's horrible how much they get away with simply because they play a sport. All the college athletes I have met thus far have all just been trying to live their lives the best they can. Any mistakes they make, they have to answer for–just like anyone else. They get no special treatment, other than being allowed to miss class for sporting events–clearly understandable.
4. Everyone LOVES drama
Literally everyone is in on the drama (or what goes on in your life, in general). You cannot even disagree with your mother without every single person in school knowing about it and twisting it in a way that you didn't even think was possible. In college, any "drama" doesn't go past your group of friends. Nobody else cares what you have going on because they have their own problems that they are trying to work on.
5. If you weren't in the "cool" group, you didn't matter
No matter how low-key you tried to be or how nice you were toward the "cool kids," you could never get in. It was like they had a list of who they would allow to speak to them. Trust me, I didn't mind–I liked living in my quiet corner for four years, but I saw it destroy some people; People who just wanted to fit in and belong. In college, there aren't any "cool" kids. There are just different groups of people who coexist together and don't think twice about what someone else is doing.