Mmmm, high school. Waking up at 6:30 a.m., getting all ready for the hundreds of kids that in reality could care less. Some good, even some of the best memories are made during your high school career. Sporting games, fun teachers, after-school activities, parties/sleepovers with your friends, homecoming, prom. Yeah, those are fun and all, but listen. Graduation comes around and it is definitely a difficult time. Figuring out your next step with college, leaving your childhood home and friends, moving away from your family; it's scary. But trust me, once you leave high school and move on with your life, that is a time you will never wish to return to. And here is why:

FREEDOM. FREEDOM. FREEDOM.

Once you hit junior/senior year of high school, usually your parents cut you a little slack and let you live a bit more independently. But that is NOTHING compared to your freedom in college. Of course you are in a different environment and there is no adult to tell you what to do, but you do grow as a person you otherwise would not have still living at home. You can come home at 3am if you want to and no one is there to tell you that you are past curfew.

CONTROLLING YOUR OWN SCHEDULE.

Typically in high school you are given a schedule and just kind of have to roll with it. 7-8 hour days now seem like a death trap once you reach college. With two, three, maybe four classes per day, if even per day (you may have certain days off) you can make your schedule how YOU want it to be. Don't want to start class at 8am? See if there is another time for that class at 11am. Don't want to be in class all day long? Schedule breaks between them. You're in control now, and there are no bathroom/hall passes either.

SOCIAL GROUPS.

When you're in high school there usually are several different friend groups. This is similar in college, except the beauty of it is you don't have to hang out with those same people every day. In high school you're sort of forced to, considering the fact you are with them about 8 hours a day, 5 times a week. In college you can have your friend you sit next to in class, your roommates, your sorority/fraternity members, work friends, etc. You don't have to hang out with the same herd of people all the time.

GO TO CLASS LOOKING HOWEVER YOU WANT.

Most people (especially girls) got ready every day before school in high school. Getting up and hour or two before school starts to do their hair, makeup and pick out a cute outfit. I know I did it. NEWS FLASH. NOBODY REALLY CARED. Everybody was always so obsessed with putting on this persona and looking good, when nobody was even paying that much attention.

I don't think I can look back and name a single person thinking "wow, they looked so cute that one day in that one outfit with that one hair-do." In college, nobody cares. And if they do care about how you look when you go to CLASS to LEARN, they have their own problems to deal with. You're too busy to care what people think. Save your cute outfits and your makeup for the bars and parties on the weekends, not when you go to class. Roll out of bed and show off that knotted hair, girl. I'll be doing it too.

HIGH SCHOOL BEST FRIENDS VS. COLLEGE BEST FRIENDS.

In high school you have your best friends you conveniently met through school/classes, but in college you get to genuinely pick who your best friends are. You aren't forced, they are truly who you get along with. You are kind of limited to who you hang out with in high school, and even though you may still talk to a few of them throughout life, nobody compares to the friends you meet in college.

Those are your people. You share common interests, live together, vacation together, go out to parties together, essentially the same person as you. 9/10 your college friends are your bridesmaids, groomsmen, god-parents to your children, and who you will consistently talk to all your life. Nothing compares. And good luck your first summer away from them too if you live far, because it SUCKS.

All in all, you will get over the phase of missing high school after you graduate. Sure, it's sad, but it gets 10000x better. TRUST ME.