Advice to Graduating High School Seniors
Collage by me.
Yay! You’ve made it! Well, you still have four more years of college ahead of you, but you have just closed a one long chapter in your life. Hopefully, your high school experience has been a positive one and hopefully one day you’ll look back at those days with that nostalgic feeling. Graduating might seem like a catastrophe right now, because you’re so sad about leaving your group of friends behind and afraid of stepping into unfamiliar, maybe even moving away from home… But, you know what? You are going to love college. Yes, you’re going to miss high school and your friends and the fact that you didn’t really have to do adult things like do your laundry or care about finances, but trust me – college is going to be great. If anything I can say with certainty that I only still miss the college days. So please, do me a favor and make those college years count, definitely not in a self-destructive way, but do make a lot of valuable memories, meet a lot of great people, make connections (you’re going to need those in the future) and open your mind to learning new things. Let me say it one more time – MAKE CONNECTIONS! I can’t stress this enough. It is so crucial.
So without further ado – I’ve asked a few of my friends what advice they would give to graduating high school seniors and here’s what they had to say:
Diana: “My advice would be to take college seriously. You will be in debt for all of the time following college. Either work part-time and go to school or take a year off to work and save. You will have more time to get a feel for what field of work that you would like to join and you will also get work experience for your resume. The older you are, the more you will appreciate school. You will be more focused on your education and you will know how it feels to wait for a paycheck so you will not waste a penny of your tuition dollars.”
“As for college relationships – focus on making friends and loving yourself. Once you love who you are, you may not need anyone else to fill any voids. Once you make friends, you may see that those friends don’t live up to your standards. Instead of seeing the type of person that you like to date, try seeing the type of person that you would like to be friends with. It will help you to be a better friend in life and friends open lots of doors in life.”
Yeliz: “There’s a lot more to life than high school. Don’t stress about not passing that Regents exam with flying colors or the boy who you thought was into you that ends up rejecting you. High school isn’t the end of it all. There’s so much more greatness that awaits you.”
“Take your time figuring out who you are and what you want to do. Teenagers are pressured by society to pick their professional field at such a young age. I changed my mind so many times in college! You shouldn’t have to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 18 because chances are you wont be doing that and your life will take many different turns. Go on vacation, do volunteer work, backpack across Europe if you have to, just go out and enjoy life and don’t stress. You just graduated high school, go turn up!”
Elisa: “Go on a mini trip over the summer! You’re going to have plenty of time to work, find yourself, etc. when you start college – you’ll have four years to do all of that! It’s common for people to feel that pressure to grow up when they’re about to start their first chapter of college life, but they shouldn’t. If there’s one thing I would have done differently, it would be to travel more. Cherish your time with loved ones and friends at home!”
