By Nour El Dean

If you’re starting university this month, know that it is going to be way different than the high school you left behind you. A few months ago your biggest responsibility was to cheat on a test (or actually stay up all night and study), skip class and not worry about getting caught. You had to ask for permission to go to the bathroom and when the day was over you’d wait to be picked up. Now, you’re asked to be responsible. You’re asked to become an adult in the blink of an eye. You’re a real student/adult now.
As naïve human beings, we always allow our imagination to get the best of us and expect things that are probably not realistic, so here is an attempt to explain to you that what you see in movies isn’t what’s really going to happen. Here comes the list.

What NOT to expect:

  • For someone to help you with your schedule. (You’re on your own, buddy.)
  • That the bus is going to wait for you like they did back in school.

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  • Getting enough sleep.
  • Keeping family days. (If you still have those happening.)
  • That life in university is anything like life at school.

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  • That you’ll have more free time for yourself.
  • That professors are like teachers. They’re not; they won’t get attached to you or push your limits because they know you can do better and want to see you rule the world and become the new Queen B. (Some of those do actually exist, they’re like unicorns so you better hold on if you find one.)
  • That the university experience is magical and you will never be disappointed.
  • For girls and guys to be looking their best and dress well. (Probably the biggest misconception. When you have a lecture at 9 and the bus leaves your area at 7, it’s doubtful you’d wake up at 6 to make sure you look good for people you probably don’t even like.)

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  • That once an assignment is done that it’s ready to be submitted. (Haha, your professor probably doesn’t think so.)
  • That coffee is going to save your life.

 

What to expect:

  • You’re going to have a love/hate relationship with university.

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  • You’ll probably end up losing contact with your school friends and you need to understand that it’s okay because people ought to move on.
  • You’ll (almost) hate your major because of the work pressure, but it’s going to end up making you better at managing time and priorities. (Yaaay for that?)
  • Finding a squad. This is where it’s not like school; you’ll find the misfits, the nerds, the jocks, the bubbleheads, the artists and the rebels. You’ll fit right in, even if you haven’t thought of yourself to be a part of any of those categories.
  • Diversity in the activities; you’ll have clubs, theaters and labs, etc.
  • Being okay with failing some classes and skipping lectures. (Though, at some point attendance will be the most important thing about your existence even if the professor is capable of making time stand still.)

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  • More work pressure.
  • Studying for a final three hours because you literally had no time to.
  • To feel way too many emotions at once. (It will shock you at some point.)
  • To be independent.
  • To be introduced to new cultures and beliefs that could help you become more open-minded.

 

This may be overwhelming and hard to handle at first, but if you push through you will definitely come out stronger for it. While you do have to become an adult in many ways, you don’t have to figure out everything in this period of your life. Yeah sure, you’re asked to choose a major, which is supposed to decide your future – AKA the rest of your life, according to your parents.

But keep this in mind, your major really doesn’t define you! It’s okay to not know what you want to do for the rest of your ‘life’ when you’re 16, 18, 21, or even after. Choose something you’re passionate about and pursue it because at the end of the day, you will end up alone in bed thinking about all the “What If(s)” and it shouldn’t be that way, because no degree is going to buy yourself a place in a higher social class ‘supposedly’ earned by being intellectual. You should feel satisfied with the decision you’ve taken and not question it for a second (unless it’s out of exhaustion) because if you’re actually not happy, then this is going to affect you for the rest of your life. No degree is going to buy you that, but pursuing your passion could.

At the end of the day, you’re here and this is reality. I apologize for this, but you’re an adult without getting through the process of being created – you just happen to become one. Your high school days will remain your favourite until you graduate university, then you’ll have a love/hate relationship with the working life and university days will become your new favourite.