It seems like I have spent the past 2 years of my life preparing for college. It’s been a whirlwind of tests, quizzes, homework, SAT’s and ACT’s, AP’s, counseling, advising, decision making, all so I can “get into a good college”. But what no one talksabout is what happens after you “get into a good college”. This event we as high school juniors and seniors spent 2 years preparing for ends once we open the envelope with our acceptance letter in the mail. We are in, and thats great and all but, what now? What do we do when the glass we poured all our time and energy into is full? When the moment you have been tirelessly working towards arrives what are you left with?
I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but as I sit in my dorm room on my second night as a college student I’ve come up with a few possibilities…
We could put this new found time and energy into classes, and therefore into our career. I’ve heard college is different in the aspect that they are not just meaningless classes, these are classes that are going to prepare you for the rest of your life! Which means it’s worth putting in a little more effort because the outcome is so much more important. I’m thinking that if we don’t learn the easy way, we’ll have to learn the hard way.
We could focus on making friends. The people we surround ourselves with will impact who we become as a person. So we should be friends with those we admire, and whose values line up with ours. Someone once told me “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future”, in regards to college I think this statement will prove to be true.
We could focus on getting involved. If I will remember one thing from this excruciatingly long orientation it’s all the various ways to get involved on campus, and that you should get involved on campus. I feel like I’ve been listening to a broken record “get involved, get involved, get involved”. They’ve been saying that getting involved will get you quickly and easily connected with those who have similar interests as you, and that’s that easiest way to make friends, and I’m definietly up for making some friends right now!
College is a scary and intimidating thing to think about. The fact that everything we’ve spent the last 2 years working for is finally here is a daunting thought. But now we get to relax a little and enjoy it. I’ve been told to soak up every moment of it because it will be gone in the blink of an eye, so that’s what I intend on doing.
Emma G. Vincent 
I have to ask the question…how is it going so far? My move in day is in 6 days and the nerves are starting to kick in! I hope everything is going well. 🙂
It’s going great so far! It’s been a long, tiring, but exciting process! I honesty don’t think it’s fully kicked in yet that this is actually happening, and it’s just all very surreal still :). Best of luck to you with your move in!
Thank you so much! Hope you continue to have a great time.