This is a guest post by OrlandoScene’s Laura Piedrahita.
College is a magical place of learning and debauchery (but mostly debauchery), but it’s also a confusing place. Freshman year always feels the most daunting, but the doubts never go away. If nothing else, you’re not alone: We all need some solidarity and help, so here it is.
Freshmen
You guys have the worst of it, but you have the best of it, too.
You’re (probably) fresh out of high school, and, for many, it’s your first time away from home. You don’t know what to think, expectations ranging from, “Good God, you’re going to fail out of your first semester,” to, “Heck yeah, this is going to be a snap.” Not to mention the dreaded “freshman fifteen,” the horror of not knowing where the hell all of your classes are, and, also, what were you thinking when you signed up for that 9 a.m. class Monday, Wednesday and Friday?
Via: newuniversity.org
Resist the urge to re-pack all of your stuff and postpone college until next semester. Once you get over all the nerves, you’ll realize you aren’t going to fail (as long as you aren’t an idiot). The freshman fifteen could just as easily be a freshman negative fifteen because of your broke ass. Also, you can find your classes by exploring the campus the weekend before. (Lame, but useful, so it’s okay.)
Finally, accept that it is also okay to sleep through a couple of those 9 a.m. classes. (I’m telling you right now: It’s going to happen.) Just make sure you’re not missing an exam. I grace you freshies with this profound advice because you haven’t got a lot to base college on. By the time you’re a senior, you’ll know better.
Sophomores & Juniors
You’re all in that awkward in-between stage — in between freshman and senior; in between the feelings of excitement because you’ve discovered college can actually be a good time; and then dread, because all those GenEds are done, and you’re getting into real shit now. But, on the plus side, you don’t have to worry about where everything is, except for that one random class in that building all the way across campus that you’d never heard of until this year. And, on the not-so-plus side, you’re starting to think that maybe that major you picked just to pick a major is not what you want, and you’re going to have to retake some of the aforementioned GenEds. Suddenly, graduation is not a couple of years, but three years away. Maybe four? (See: Super Seniors.)
Via: drewacorn.com
But the nice thing about being in an in-between stage is you are in a comfortable, sandwiched position, where there will be cushion if you fall on your ass, and some more cushion if you fall flat on your face. Which, if it happens, is totally acceptable. Don’t listen to the crap that this is the point where you have to start really thinking about your future, and there is no room for mess ups. There is room. As there should be because you will mess up. And you’ll recover, too. No sweat.
Seniors
You (and I), like the freshmen, also have the worst and the best of it. On the one hand, the scary reality of graduation and whatever the fuck happens after that is finally looming closer than ever before. That, more than anything, makes you want to go back to being 18 with those four or more years of school to look forward to. Who wants to be a real adult? Who wants to go into the unknown, where the people are different, the atmosphere is different and everything seems unstable?
But hang on a second. Look back to being a freshman. To being a sophomore. And a junior. We all started out each year with some trepidation and reluctance, and basically a huge desire to mimic an ostrich and shove our heads in the sand, pretending that would solve all our problems because it seemed a better option than facing the unknown.
Via: coolgizmotoys.com
But we faced it. And hopefully if you’re reading this far, you got through it. You might argue that going out into the “real world” is a much bigger step then going up a tier in college, so you’ll keep your head in the sand, thank you very much. I call bullshit, though. Without realizing it, you’ve become adults (Oh, no!) and pretty damn skilled at facing the unknown because it’s what you’ve been doing for the past few years, whether as a freshman, sophomore or junior. Being a senior will feel just as scary, but similarly, it will end up just as okay. Just don’t be an idiot.
Oh, and…
Super Seniors
Just one more year, you breathe into the sand around your head.
But, really. The four years to graduate is turning into five, and maybe that’s turning into six. But still, it’s just one more year. Right?
Just teasing.
