Worried About College

Dear Bro Jo,

Hi Bro Jo!

This is more of a casual letter than anything. I thought it'd be an interesting topic to hear from you about. See, I'm a senior girl in high school, and I'll  be graduating in 3-ish months, and going on to college. I'm kind of in that stage where I'm excited about college, and really hopeful it'll be better than high school, but I'm also nervous about it.

So I was wondering what advice you had on the college experience?

And just for guidelines, here's my list of what I'm excited about and what I'm nervous about.


Excited!!!

• Institute is NOT IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!! I can SLEEP IN!!!!! =O
• I'll get to focus on my interests even more intently!
• I get to meet new people, and hopefully make new friends.
• I really really really really hope the Mormon guys there are a LOT COOLER than the ones here. Because the ones here all have girlfriends and won't go on dates with me and I'm kinda ticked at them. A lot.
• Maybe I can actually be NORMAL to some kind of group. (because I swear, I NEVER fit in)
• I can try out being an adult? I guess that's good.


NERVOUS

• K, well, top nervous thing is, I'm physically disabled. Not, like, in a wheelchair, but I have a chronic pain/fatigue thing, and disturbances in weather, stress, health, and time management can really mess me up. Like, I have to go to bed early, or I get sick. I can't walk too far (small campus, luckily) or I get sick. I can't do sportsy things or do a whole lot more activity than school and orchestra, or I get sick. Etc. ANNNND this means I haven't gotten to do a lot of YW activities. ANNNND this might be a problem for Institute/Single Adult stuff.
          This is why I'm not normal.
• The idea of a roommate terrifies me. I requested either no roommate for health reasons, or LDS roommate on my housing form, but I'm still scared about it.
• I'm going into creative writing, and the thought of "PROFESSORS" also scares me. I just imagine this big tall scary guy telling me I will be a failure all my life and never get published. That does not sound fun.
• Also, I can't stay up late doing homework. See bullet point one.
• Um, what if I can't make friends? Bullet point one. Also, I have serious self-confidence issues, which I'm working on, but it makes it hard to make friends...
• And what if the dudes are creepers? How can I tell? How do I stay safe?
   

I think that's it. I think.
   

Anyway, whatever you'd like to throw in on this would be great! Thanks!

- College-Bound and Uncertain!




Dear College-bound,

It's good that you're Excited, and it’s okay that you're nervous.

My advice?

Relax.  It's all going to be okay.

In fact, it’s going to be a blast!

- Bro Jo