Hi! I’m Abby, and I’m a senior at TCU. Yeah, that’s right. I am just about one month away from graduating with an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design with plans to leave school, move back to my hometown, and start my career. It’s exciting! You may look at me and wish we could trade places. But I’m here to tell you that, love it or hate it, college is a totally singular experience, and you should take it all in while you can.
When else will you live within walking distance of every single one of your friends? Think about it. You miss your bestie? You can be at her door in two minutes with a coffee in hand and the latest update on your class crush. You want to get the gang together? Half of them probably live with you already, while the other half can just swing by after class.
Cooler yet, you’re surrounded by a whole network of people who may not be your “ride or die” friends but make up the smiling faces that you wave to across campus and shout hello to in the halls. Everyone’s roughly the same age, cheering for the same football team in the college football playoffs, and is working towards the same type of goals you are. Everyone goes to the same parties, the same bars, and the same busted fast-food joint at 2 am. It feels nice to be a part of something universal, you know?
And when else will you have such access to new opportunities? Universities host concerts, bring guest speakers, and house outlandish student organizations. For every sh*tty professor, there’s at least one who might change your life with their advice, passion, or teaching style. Adults love helping out college students; flash that student ID and see what you can’t achieve.
I implore you to attend that stupid campus event. Join that pickleball club or improv group. Talk to that professor and have the audacity to ask for something you’re not qualified to receive. Try something that you’d never otherwise try, and just go for it. All in. College is the safest place you’ll ever have to fail, and it’s a wonderful place to discover new facets of yourself.
When else will you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself? Yes, I’m grappling with the fact that my college experience has been so fleeting and temporary, but there’s a beauty in that, too. Fewer preconceptions, fewer expectations. Become a hat girl in college! Nobody will judge you for just now starting to wear hats, because for all they know, you’ve always worn hats. Do what you’ve always been too scared to do and become who you’ve been too scared to become. You’re one of thousands on campus — nobody’s paying attention. That’s freedom!
Freshman year is kind of sh*tty, though, right? I know it might be hard to take me seriously as I wax poetic about the joys of the college experience, so let me reassure you: it was not all sunshine and rainbows. But neither is any other stage of life. I think part of the reason freshman year sucks is that everything is so new, and you’re still finding your footing. You’re constantly second-guessing your every move.
Unfortunately, it has taken all four years to feel like I have any clue what I’m doing here. But if you wait to enjoy your college experience until you feel like you know what you’re doing, you will miss the best parts. The joy is there, hiding between the deadlines and situationships and hangovers and failures. Hell, sometimes the joy is in the late nights with your study group, the rush of romance, the morning debriefs, and the missteps you later laugh about. I implore you to notice the joy now, instead of only lamenting the loss of it when it’s all over.
Don’t let it pass you by. Time will fly like you can’t even imagine. You got this.
Love, Abby