If I Could Go Back to Senior Year and Tell Myself One Thing…

When you are finishing up your last semester in high school preparing to leave home and venture out on your own to college lots of thoughts swirl around the inside of your head. Along with all of your own thoughts and concerns with life and school in college, pressure from parents and teachers only adds to the stress.

When I was in high school every teacher had the same tagline about college “ its not going to be like high school, you are going to need to really buckle down if you expect to do well, one more step towards the real world.” These types of comments always bothered me because it implied that the world you are living in now isn’t real or is somehow inferior to their “real world.” I don’t know about you but those warnings and bits of advice also made me feel like my teachers were implying that I just skated by when I was high school as if I didn’t work to get to where I was then. Each time I talked about college in this way it caused a little more doubt to creep into my own head on whether or not I could really handle it, or if I would have a good time at college.

After being in college for three years if I could back and tell my 18 year old self one thing it would be “ You know what your teachers are right college is going to be a lot different then high school, but in a good way. You are going to have a chance to be on your own, meet new and interesting people from places you have never been while all at the same time having a chance to expand your mind intellectually and have a real impact on your own community.  As far as classes being more difficult stop your worrying, you didn’t get where you are by being lazy and I am sure you won’t become lazy just because you are in a new place. You are a smart kid remember that, I mean you got into William and Mary, you have to be smart right. Now relax and enjoy the rest of your senior year and get ready for some of the best times of your life.”  This is the same advice I would share with any and all of you who will be joining the tribe next fall. I look forward to seeing you around campus next year.

– David Murphy ’12