For the seniors, this is the first time we are not picking our next year’s classes. This is a bittersweet moment. On one hand, we are excited to be done with high school and moving on but on the other, we are moving on and everything will be changing soon. I’ve talked to some people in my grade who are going to college next year about their concerns and I wanted to share some advice. A lot of the more common fears I have heard people mention are those inevitable parts of life that everybody gets through. The most common thing I hear about is people worrying about how they will adjust to living on their own and being in a new setting, especially making friends in college.

While this is scary, you will most likely experience many events similar to this. You will start new jobs, move, or find yourself in other situations where you will be in an unfamiliar setting. We aren’t meant to stay in the same place with the same people forever. You picked your college and your major, and the people you will go to college with also chose that college. There are already similarities. The likelihood that you will find friends in college is higher than the likelihood that you would find friends in high school. Think about it; Everyone at West goes to West just because we live in the area. We never made any decision to live where we live and there are less than 2000 students in this school. In a college setting, you all chose to go there for some reason and there will be several times the number of people around. You chose your major, so the people in your classes will have similar interests. You defeated higher odds of finding friends in high school. The college will probably be easier to find your people. Most students don’t go to college knowing many people.  Everyone is in the same boat the first year! Good luck and don’t stress about the little things!