College years, what about it? - What each year in college is like

So what about college? 

Bidding farewell to your high school life can be really tough, especially to those who have made tons of memorable experiences there. Saying goodbye to your high school friends, crushes (who you may or may not only see during breaks), club activities and even those terror teachers that seems to hate you to the core. Just the idea of starting a new phase in your life is dreadful. Having to start from scratch with everything - new environment, new classmates, new set of people to befriend, clubs, groups and so much more - can shake you up, make you feel scared and excited all at the same time. 

This experience proves to be different for everyone, but it will for sure turn out to be fun and memorable too in the end. 

In the next month, I too would be starting a somewhat new phase, I would be a fourth year college student. Let me give you a glimpse of what each year of college may usually be like for students:

First year - Frosh year

Frosh, fresh, new...

This is your adjustment period wherein you feel giddy, excited and your emotions are just all over the place. You adjust to the new environment - the new school, new condo, dorm/roommates, classmates and everything that is alien to you. You may set out to try things here and there but remember to always be wise with your judgements since you get to live out your decisions from here on out. 

In here, though you may not realize it yet, you get to experience the most "chill" part of your college life (the papers, fieldworks, thesis, tons and crapload of quizzes and homeworks comes later). 

Try to make the best out of it, join organizations, be active in various clubs, make tons of new friends, party, go out, yet do all of this things while also making sure that you attend all your classes, learn from them and pass your exams (all the more to feel better about everything right?).

Second Year - Sinking in

At this stage, you have already adapted and everything that used to be new is now just your 'normal' and everything already feels familiar to you.

Everything is already slowly sinking in. You are now in college and in here, you can't just wing your exams. Not reviewing for quizzes like you did when you were in high school is a big no-no (unless its okay for you to repeat that subject). This is the part where you start stressing out over everything, your quizzes, papers, group works and other projects that your professors assign to you.

Time to get really serious about stuff.

Third year - Tired years

One thing I learned about college? 

It doesn't get easier...

I wish I could say that as you go on, everything would get easier but as it turns out it just gets tougher and tougher all the way. It challenges you and sometimes it feels like its draining the life out of you. 

In your third year, wherein you might be a year or two away from graduation, there are alot of times where you won't even have the strength to feel other emotions. You'll just feel tired. 

Your professors wouldn't be as lenient as before.

Your workload doubles, triples, and just continuously grow and grow until you don't feel like you have any time for leisure at all. However you may feel like you want to, you won't have time for parties and going out anymore because you have a 20-page paper to write, a 30 items problem set to solve, a one hundred-item quiz to study for and a thesis to start with. 

This is where you grow as a student. You learn from your previous mistakes (both acads and life-wise) and try to avoid doing them again. This is where you learn about what to prioritize and how to handle your time to fit everything in (all along with the crying and stressing out)

Fourth year – Fifth year - Forever years

This years would feel like forever.

Forever taking too long to arrive and forever taking too long to finish.

The most dreadful, stressful and difficult years as students. The pressure and challenges pile up, continuously making you anxious.  The thought of whether or not you'll make it or what you'll do after. All these questions, thoughts and anxieties. The feeling of wanting to graduate right away and the feeling of being scared about what the future holds. Struggling with all these thoughts while working hard with your academics is really tough but it would also mold you to be who you are as an individual towards the end.

This stage is where you won't even know what rest and sleep is like. 

Finish your papers, finish your thesis, prepare for the defense, pass your quizzes, pass your exams, these are the only things that are going through your head... like a mantra, continuously repeating. Feeling like coffee is your bestfriend and instant food is the only option there is.

There may come a time where you would feel like you can't handle it anymore that you just have to sit in the corner and cry due to stress. However in such instances, keep in mind how everyone goes through with this, with this same hell-ishly tiring experiences and think about how fulfilling it would feel in the end. Think about how it would feel when you have finally made it.

Tips for college students?
Don't let stress get the best of you, work hard, do your best and do all these while thinking about how you'll make yourself proud in the end and how everything would be worth it.