The Harry Potter Alliance

A Senior’s Musings on College

Over the past couple of days, I have been helping freshmen move in and get oriented to college before classes start on Tuesday. I’m a Peer Leader for one of the Freshman Seminars, which is similar to a TA except that I also am there as a guide and reference for any help they may need in the transition to college life.

Talking with these students and their parents, getting them acclimated to my college, has definitely made me think a lot. This weekend moreso than in past years, because this is my final year of undergrad. Responding to the question, “what year are you?” with the word “senior” is an exciting and terrifying thing.

The past three years at my college have been enlightening, in both the academic and social setting. To me, college is about experiencing the world beyond what little you learned up through high school. Choosing your own classes is fantastic and really allows you to explore what is actually interesting to you, versus what you “need to learn”. When I tell freshmen that I took a class on The Portrayals of Race and Ethnicity in Comic Books my first year here, their eyes widen that there could even be a class that discusses such a “strange” topic.

Figuring out whom you are and what you want to do is an important part of going to college. College isn’t always necessary for some people, I absolutely agree, and there are many higher education options out there for every career and personality. But most of all, this is the time that you are given in your life to completely and totally immerse yourself in what is innately you, and that is so exciting to be a part of. I am not the same person that I was when I first entered college, and I will not be the same person ten years after I graduate.

College is an experience, another part of the path your life will take. For those of our readers who are just starting college, I wish you a wonderful four years. Do something unexpected that you may not otherwise have thought to do, meet new friends, and have a blast!