In high school, a teacher once told me that my junior year would be my best year. While I cannot say that is true of high school, in the past three weeks it seems that my junior year of college is by far the best year yet.
The first reason junior year is actually the best is that there is a new level of freedom that comes with being a junior. There is a newfound academic freedom since your classes are more likely than not for your major and if you're like me, they are finally the classes you've wanted to take all along. There are other freedoms that come with this year as well. As much as we all loved the community building underclassmen dorm environments, living in an upperclassmen dorm feels like you're just a little bit more of an adult.
As a junior, you've been in college for two years, and for most of us, it's been the same college. Juniors know the ropes. You know the best times to avoid dining hall lines and by now you know the best and worst study spaces on campus. The second reason junior year is the best is because by now you've adjusted to school and can enjoy your upperclassmen status without the amount of stress senior year will put on you. Comfortability is something you don't know to be thankful for until it's the zone you're in. By junior year you have a routine and it's sort of a blessing when you've slept through your alarm and can't afford to be late for class, but you know all the fastest ways to get to class.
The third reason junior year is the best is that by now, you've been friends with people for two years. People have a sense of who you are and what to expect from you. Junior year is where you can solidify the friendships you already made, but also meet new people who you would have never had the guts to talk to freshman year. This is the point in college where no one cares that your hair has been in the same messy bun for three days and your friends not only have stopped judging you for eating french fries for dinner every night, but they encourage it. In college, you get to live close to your best friends, which is something you don't get to do any other point in life. Junior year is the best because by now you know which friends talk in their sleep and who is the best person to text for a 1 a.m. coffee run.
The fourth and final reason junior year is the best is rather simple. By junior year, college doesn't seem as overwhelming. Yes, there is a plethora of work to be done, and you still have to pick between showering or a sit-down meal most of the time, but by now you've done it for two years. You've gotten the hang of this now. Junior year is the best because it's not the end of college, there's still time for greatness, but by now you're in the swing of it enough to know your place in things and what exactly you want to do in the next two years of your life.
