Even though I still have a semester of college left, it still feels like the end of an era because my roommates are graduating. Being a fifth year already feels less carefree than the first four years of college (and I'm not even there yet). Which is why I've decided to beat my roommates (who actually have cause to be writing a post like this) to the punch and publish this now.
1) Keep in touch with your parents. I’m not going to tell you how often to call them or how often you should go home, but touch base. Let them know you’re okay. Ask how they’re doing. Your relationship with your parents may become different, and even a little strained, after college, and you may need to put in extra effort. Make sure you do. It only gets harder once you enter the working world, and sometimes your parents need you more than you need them. Make sure you’re there, especially for the people who cleaned your shit when you were potty training and put up with your nonsense in puberty.
3) The best decision is one that can be changed. I went into college with astounding arrogance, thinking that I knew exactly what I wanted. During my third year of college, I became a pre-med student. I never thought I would voluntarily switch into a more difficult track, but all my interests lay in that realm. Initially I freaked out a lot about becoming pre-med so late in my college career and fulfilling all of my requirements and keeping up with pre-med students who had been at the pinnacle of academic success since their freshman year of college. But in spite of all of this, after I actually started working towards my goal, took the MCAT and started writing my personal statement, I found to my own surprise that maybe I’m more prepared for this endeavor than I thought I was.
1) Keep in touch with your parents. I’m not going to tell you how often to call them or how often you should go home, but touch base. Let them know you’re okay. Ask how they’re doing. Your relationship with your parents may become different, and even a little strained, after college, and you may need to put in extra effort. Make sure you do. It only gets harder once you enter the working world, and sometimes your parents need you more than you need them. Make sure you’re there, especially for the people who cleaned your shit when you were potty training and put up with your nonsense in puberty.
2) Don’t underestimate the power of decorating your room. I never put too much emphasis on it because I
consider my parents’ house my actual home, so I basically saw my dorm room as
an extension of the library with a bed.
As it turns out, that mindset is very depressing, and as soon as I made
my room a little homier, I felt so much happier spending time in it and didn’t
feel like I had been consigned to a mental asylum.
3) The best decision is one that can be changed. I went into college with astounding arrogance, thinking that I knew exactly what I wanted. During my third year of college, I became a pre-med student. I never thought I would voluntarily switch into a more difficult track, but all my interests lay in that realm. Initially I freaked out a lot about becoming pre-med so late in my college career and fulfilling all of my requirements and keeping up with pre-med students who had been at the pinnacle of academic success since their freshman year of college. But in spite of all of this, after I actually started working towards my goal, took the MCAT and started writing my personal statement, I found to my own surprise that maybe I’m more prepared for this endeavor than I thought I was.
4) The line between your friends and your family starts to blur
a little bit after the first two years of college. Sometimes you want to kill them because they
don’t put their dishes in the sink.
Sometimes you harangue them to clean the bathroom until finally, they
come back from their boyfriend’s place to find you in a cleaning frenzy and
twitching like you’re tweaking off of methamphetamine. Sometimes, when you’re in the shower singing
your little heart out, they’ll conspire against you and turn the lights out
when you’re in there, causing you to scream like a little girl. Other times they’ll just walk in on you when
you pee. But they’re also the ones who
will drag you out of your room when you’re depressed, give you chocolate and
have impromptu sleepovers with you. They’re
the ones who will haul your drunk ass back to your apartment, inspect any guy
who’s trying to dance with you, and go on late-night food runs with you because
your menstrual cycles have synced up and you’re craving the same thing. They’re the ones you take over the dance
floor with at weddings and the ones you lean on at funerals, and they become
such an integral part of your life that I don’t think you can shake them after
college, even if you wanted to.
5) Everyone changes in college.
It’s okay to clean out your life and get rid of things that don’t fit,
even if they were comfortable at one point, whether it’s that top you wore so
often that it was starting to get holes in it or a relationship. If something doesn’t make you happy, go back
to what it was like when you were happy, and it will pay off in the long run,
even if it hurts at the beginning. As
Outkast so eloquently puts it, “So why oh why are we so in denial when we know
we’re not happy here?”
6) Study abroad if you get a chance. I was so close to not doing it, but I’m so
glad I took advantage of the opportunity.
Even if you don’t necessarily get to make friends with a lot of locals
in the country you travel to, it still broadens your horizons and makes you
appreciate what you have. I had never
traveled to a country where I didn’t speak the language, and it really fostered
independence. One of my most memorable
days in Spain was going to the Formula One race by myself and struggling to buy
souvenirs and communicating what I wanted to the salespeople.
7) It’s okay to be a Type A personality at times, but there are
a lot of times when you just need to pull the stick out of your ass, roll with
the punches and go with the flow. It
makes you happier, and if not for your sake, do it for the people you’re
hanging out with. It’s okay if things
don’t go the way you expect them to. So
what if every hostel in Paris is booked except the one farthest away from the
city, where the German girls turn on the TV and start screaming right when you’re
about to go to sleep? In retrospect, it
made for good conversation, and we found so many cool places that most tourists
in Paris can’t find.
8) Growth can never be achieved if you stick to the
familiar. Do things you wouldn’t
normally do. Take a class you normally
wouldn’t get a chance to take (just don’t waste your HOPE hours like I
did). If you’re really interested in a
class, audit it. Get drunk and sneak
into the football stadium (although the amount of personal growth this
experience provides is dubious). Join a dance
team. Go Greek. Go on a date with someone you didn’t expect
would be your type. Apply to work abroad. Take that research position even though you’re
scared shitless and are afraid of fucking up.
Do karaoke. Go salsa dancing. Play video games with your friends even if you
know you suck. Don’t ever stop yourself
because in your head, you can’t see yourself doing something. I’ve found that our own potential to surprise
ourselves is infinite.
9) Even after you get used to going out and drinking and
partying with your friends (because of course you won’t be doing that until you’re
21!), never underestimate the power of doing something low-key with your
friends that doesn’t involve alcohol.
Sitting in your pajamas devouring pie or playing Never Have I Ever on a
12-hour roadtrip when you’re all stuck in the same car is surprisingly
illuminating, and you just can’t help but bond with your friends.
10) Don’t live your life for other people. Even though you’re in college, sometimes it
still feels like high school 2.0. Never
let someone else’s idea of popularity define your happiness with your social
life. If you don’t want to drink right
away or if you don’t want to smoke, don’t let someone make you feel bad because
of it. If having a large circle of
friends is important to you, even if you may not necessarily be very close to
all of them, there’s nothing wrong with that either. If you’re happy with a small group of
friends, that’s your call. It’s okay to
say no to people. If you have a friend
who needs help who you just can’t devote time to right now, that’s fine. Be selfish and help yourself first- you’ll
never be able to help anyone else if you can’t even take care of yourself.
~*Heat*~
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