Time Flies in College

Being a college senior is extremely bittersweet. While looking ahead to the future and not knowing what is in store for our lives is exciting, it is also nerve racking to know that we are leaving behind an environment that we have grown so accustomed to in the past four years.

Before coming to college, people always told me, "enjoy it while it lasts because it will go by faster than you know it." For some reason, I seemed to think that they were exaggerating. However, now that college is coming to an end, I realize they are exactly right. It feels like I became a senior before I could even fathom being a freshman.

One of the more important things that happens in college is maturity. It's a concept that happens without even knowing it. College forces us to grow up and become independent. For most of us, it is the first time that our parents have no control over what we do while they are not watching.

Heather Grant, senior occupational therapy major at Quinnipiac, notices the small things that have made her more independent throughout her college days. "I can now run errands by myself. In high school I would never have done that. I now also cook for myself every night and do my own laundry," she said.

Grant said that college has definitely made her aware of time management. She said that while her course load has increased, she makes herself do the work as soon as she gets it instead of procrastinating like she used to do.

With the upcoming graduation, seniors are starting to feel pressure to make the transition into the "real world" as smooth as possible. We are forced to take everything we learned in four years of college and apply it to "real life" situations.

"I was hoping I would learn some independence and mature and get ready to live on my own. In high school I didn't have any responsibilities and now as a senior your getting ready to move out into the world," Grant said.

According to her, Quinnipiac gets its students ready for living on their own by making all seniors live off campus. With these living arrangements, we have to cook, clean, and do our own laundry, which are probably the three hardest things for college students to get used to as freshmen.

Kristin Danese, a senior nursing major said she had to have her mom show her how to do laundry on move-in day in her first year of college.

"My mom took me down to the first floor of Commons and showed me how to use the washing machine and the dryer. I never knew how easy it was to use. The machines here only have like two buttons and mine at home have like ten," she said.

For Danese, her biggest change in college was switching majors half way through sophomore year. Three years ago she believed that as a senior she would be awaiting physical therapy graduate school. Instead she is graduating in May with a nursing degree.

"I never thought I was the type to change my mind," she said.

Well, college changes people; whether its a physical difference or just as simple as growing up. We walk into freshmen year as children and we leave as adults. In four years, that is a huge transformation.