Appreciating Your College Experience
By Jody Bell
Growing up my mom used to say that time, or rather our perception of it, has a tendency to speed up as we age.
I remember walking into my high school building for the first time - a weird pang rang out in my chest as I thought about how monumental the next four years would be. While my time in high school was monumental, it flew by so fast that my memories are like a trailer to a coming of age movie. Quick snapshots of laughing with my friends as we aimlessly drove around with our freshly minted drivers licenses. The inside of our local ice cream shop that I worked at and the sickly sweet smell of ice cream that seemed to cling to my clothes regardless of how many times I washed them. My go-to seat in my history class that placed me right in front of a poster that said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” What I thought would be a long journey towards graduation turned out to be a sprint.
Now I’m 21 years old and racing towards another graduation: college.
When you look back at your time in school - whether college or high school - it won’t necessarily be a collection of “special” memories. You won’t vividly remember the pumpkin patch you went to once, or that one time your friends drove to the beach to fly kites, or even the amazing sunset you saw on the drive home from spring break. But when you think of your friends you’ll hear the sounds of their laughs on a random Tuesday night when you were up so late doing homework you became a bit delusional. You’ll think of your campus and immediately be able to smell the freshmen dorm where you met a girl who would turn out to be your best friend. You’ll even smile when you think back on the gross dining hall food that you used to complain about on the daily, (and the memory may even be vivid enough to taste the excess salt that was always added.)
Truthfully, that’s life, and memories have a tendency of being made in the most mundane of moments.
People often say college is the “best four years of your life”, and I honestly believe that this statement and mentality is pretty detrimental to your actual college experience. I spent so much time thinking that college was one of the peak moments in my life that I set absurdly high expectations for it. I felt the need to plan a fun activity every single weekend, take advantage of every moment of free time, and viewed studying and the more “routine” parts of my life as boring.
Little did I know that these moments aren’t actually what sticks with me as I prepare to graduate - and instead it is these “boring” aspects of my life that I cherish the most. If I had understood this back during my freshman year I would have had an entirely different and more gratitude oriented, mentality.
Plus, what does this “college is the best four years” mentality imply for post-academia life? Is my life simply downhill from here? As an underclassman, who lived in the moment and couldn’t even fathom a life as a young professional, I earnestly believed so. Yet, as I buy my graduation gown and think about life outside of libraries I’d like to think this isn’t the case. In fact, I’m excited for life after college, and who I will become as I step into the “real world” (whatever that may mean.)
That’s because the personal transformation I’ve gone through during college has made me fall in love with myself…and my potential.
Yes, it would be incorrect to say that in high school there isn’t growth. But college is growing without as many safety nets - and that feels entirely different.
For people who move away from college, your social dilemmas are no longer escapable when you go home to your family for a home cooked meal and hug from your family. Failing to prepare for a test could have huge implications for your grade as a whole - and there’s no one behind your shoulder urging you to stay motivated and disciplined with your studying.
Yes, sometimes this is ugly. Sometimes you don’t hold yourself accountable enough, and are left with a poor test grade and a pit in your stomach because you know this was entirely your fault. And yes, it is good to be frustrated with yourself in these moments - but it is also important to have some perspective and give yourself grace.
You are beginning to unscrew the training wheels of having real academic/professional pressure and social agency of your own life. And that’s scary as anything.
But as you recover from these inevitable pitfalls, you’ll discover just how resilient you are. You’ll unpack how you approach problems in your life, and understand the growth that these obstacles inspire in yourself.
Everyone’s experience in college is different - but what we, as students, all have in common is a period of our life devoted solely to personal growth and transformation. The snapshot memories of our libraries and dorm rooms aren’t just fond recollections of our adolescence - they are the foundational moments that serve as a step towards the people we are becoming.
Jody Bell, 21 is Girls With Impact’s Editor in Chief and a program graduate from Greenwich High School. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, business and leadership program for girls 14-24, turning them into tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.