Preparing for College

As I have accepted my way into Temple University, signed a lease for an apartment, have my three roommates set in stone, and have already started shopping, I am ready for the next chapter of my life. However, with this, brings an ongoing thought that hasn’t left my brain in weeks. The idea of moving in on August 18, and having to go and knock on my new neighbor’s door for the first time. These people could be seniors in college; they could be total book worms, MVP’s on the football team, or we could turn out to be best friends. This all might sound crazy, but that idea of our parents leaving and us having total freedom in a matter of hours blows my mind. As much of a social butterfly as I am, this mainstream action of just knocking on a random person’s door and introducing myself for the first time is kind of wild. These people are about to be my first friends in college whether they like it or not. My sister goes to Temple right now and lives in the student living apartments that I am living in next year and she said something to me that I will never forget; “The smallest acts are the ones that never go unnoticed.” She said this to me because I was asking her if it is hard to meet new people and that response changed my outlook. Now I have realized that I need to get my name out there and just be myself and stop worrying about the worst-case scenario.

Another very challenging part of this whole pre-college experience is finding roommates. Nowadays, technology is everything. So, where do most people find their roommates? Facebook. It blows my mind that our generation is picking who they are living with based on pictures and a three sentence blurb about themselves. The craziest part of it all, these people aren’t even meeting their new online friends in person before they decide to room together. My roommate, Kaylee Dougherty, said “Finding roommates was tough but once I found the right people, I knew. It was such a gut feeling.” There is almost an instant click you get with someone when you meet them and I think that’s what you have to find with roommates. If I had any advice for high school juniors, it would be to get started on this process as soon as possible. This is because right now, for most colleges, roommate requests are due by the end of April and there are so many people scrambling to find someone.

As I am almost graduated from high school, I think these two concerns are my biggest that I have had thus far. However, if I had any advice for upcoming seniors it would be; get going early. Get that application in early. Because then a whole chain follows behind that. You get your decisions back faster, then you can decide faster, then you can start finding roommates. Because, this year, I feel as if the class of 2021 had a late start to the college process and it is showing now as many people are struggling to finalize everything in such a short amount of time.