College is the best time of your life…

At least, that's what everyone told me.

When I first started working in college admissions, I was fresh out of college myself.

I was young, idealistic, and honestly still looking back on those four years through rose-colored glasses.

I remember telling students all the time,

"College is going to be the best time of your life."

I believed it.

After all, I had just traded college for adulthood.

Bills.

Rent.

Trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

Compared to that, college felt magical.

But over time, I realized I had forgotten something.

I had forgotten that my first semester was hard.

Really hard.

I went out of state to play college sports, and if I'm being honest, I wondered if I had made a mistake.

I didn't love my coach.

Our practices were exhausting.

I thought college was supposed to be more fun than this.

I questioned whether I belonged there at all.

I had forgotten how lost I felt trying to choose a major.

Everyone seemed to expect an 18-year-old to know exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their life.

I certainly didn't.

I had forgotten about sharing one tiny room with two roommates.

Five girls sharing one bathroom.

One roommate eating ramen in bed while typing on AOL Instant Messenger late into the night.

Another smoking weed in our tiny bathroom.

Let's just say...

It wasn't exactly the college experience I'd imagined.

Meanwhile, my friends back home all went to the same state school.

They already had built-in friendships.

I had to start over.

I remember wondering:

Will I ever find my people?

But then something changed.

Little by little...

College became exactly what everyone had promised me.

I found my best friends.

The ones I still have today.

I loved my independence so much that I stayed near campus during the summers to work instead of moving back home.

Some of my favorite memories came from those years.

So yes...

College really was one of the best times of my life.

But here's what I wish someone had told me.

The best times of your life can also be some of the hardest.

Those two things can exist at the same time.

College isn't four years of constant excitement.

It's homesickness.

Awkward roommates.

Changing majors.

Missing home.

Meeting incredible people.

Making mistakes.

Learning who you are.

Growing up.

I think sometimes we unintentionally do students a disservice when we tell them college is going to be "the best four years of their life."

Because when the first semester feels lonely or overwhelming, they start to wonder:

"Did I make the wrong choice?"

Usually...

They didn't.

They're simply experiencing what almost every college student experiences.

College isn't special because every day is perfect.

It's special because it's often the first time you discover you're capable of building a life on your own.

And somewhere between the homesickness, the late-night conversations, the difficult classes, the strange roommates, and the friendships you never expected...

It becomes one of the best times of your life.

Not because it was easy.

Because it changed you.