Hannah Kroll

It seems like just yesterday you graduated from high school, and I know/ remember that strange feeling of July, you know the “college is just around the corner” feeling. It comes with a number of emotions. The first one is excitement; the next is a jumble of nerves. Are you ready, should you have taken that gap year your parents had recommended? Although it is still a little too early to start going college shopping, there are still things that can be done to help ease your nerves.

• First of all take care of the little things, for instance it is an election year and you will be kicking yourself come November if you have forgotten to get an absentee ballot, so even if it seems to early to do so, go online and fill out the application for one, because in a few weeks everything is going to become a little hectic and it may slip your mind.

• Another thing to do is to try to spend a decent amount of time with your family, especially one on one time with a younger sibling ** if you went to a boarding school spending time with your family is still important but the following anecdote does not apply to you. From personal experience I can attest to how important this is; I have a younger brother who is almost seven years younger than me, so before I left for school he had really never been alone with our parents (except when I was way over the summers before he left for camp). The first few days I was at school I got calls from him at night about how much he missed me, to the point where for a little while he actually slept in my room. Unfortunately I was busy most of the summer, and he was away at camp so we did not get to spend that much time just hanging out together, but I wish we had; not only did he miss me, I really missed him. Although most of you will have a room mate it is not the same as a sibling at all, you never know how you will end up getting along with a roommate, etc.

• It is also a good idea to start brainstorming about what you will need to bring. Wait until you find out who your roommate is to start worrying about/ planning out the big things like the fridge. However on the subject of the big things, I do not recommend that you get a TV, it serves as an extra distraction, I did not have one at all, although I know that a lot of people do. It’s really a personal choice, however you really don’t need one, all the common rooms have TVs plus most shows are also on line. I do recommend that you buy fans because the dorms get very hot, that is something that you do not need to wait for a roommate before getting, I know that I brought two fans… you can never have too many fans.