College was the best four years of my life. How many times have you heard an older adult say that, whether they be a nostalgic relative or a university employee hoping that you will spend money you don’t have on their university in particular. You are going to enjoy college, my parents told me.
All that pressure can be a lot to handle for an anxious eighteen year old. While it’s only been a little over two years since I started college, the building dread of graduation is much closer than I would like. So, in honor of the occasion, I thought I would take a look back and list out five things I wish I knew before starting college.
- First: You need to build a community, not a sitcom friend group.
I, and many of my peers have grown up with fiction, whether they be television shows, books, and other media that contain a limited number of characters who only hang out with one another. The audience can only be expected to keep track of so many characters, after all. But this metric does not work in real life. Different people are going to fill different roles in your life, and they may not mix well with others in your life. And that’s okay. You are a unique person, with a variety of interests and having a village allows you to act like the individual with a support network you are, not one-sixth of a single unit.
- Second: You are capable of learning the material.
While I won’t pretend that college is not difficult (as it should be, because you’re learning to be a professional), the fact remains that majors are often chosen because you are good at them, you find the subject matter interesting, or both. Thus, you are incentivized to work hard, and gain results. And a skill you learned yourself through your own studying and work is way more satisfactory than one a machine could ever spit out. And it is more likely to stick in your head, because you are training for a career. You are smart enough to understand the material, provided you are willing to do the work.
- Third: People are a lot kinder than you give them credit for.
While there will always be self-absorbed jerks in the world, (and the Internet tends to highlight those people), most people genuinely want to help you. Remember, in college, the average person you pass on the way to class may not be as lonely as you are in that present moment, but chances are they’ve experienced something like it in the past. You cannot, and should not, do everything alone.
- Fourth: It’s going to be vicious.
I won’t pretend college has been all sunshine and rainbows for me, because it hasn’t. I’ve had my struggles, same as any other college student. The key is finding the incentives to keep going. And that’s different for every person. Some people surround themselves with wide social networks. Others find strength in a higher power. Still others immerse themselves in their hobbies. The challenge is just finding what works.
- Finally: This is just the beginning.
For most of my childhood, I saw college as a finale. I, like many other high schoolers, was daunted by the cost, by the independence of it all, and so I tried my best to present my best foot forward. However, knowing that I am less than two years from becoming a “real adult” has made me realize that I have my whole life ahead of me. And I, like I urge you, intend to live it to the fullest.
