I’ve reached the point in my life where I can see college looming in the distance. Much like Atlas, I’m carrying the weight of the rest of my future on my shoulders and everything depends on this monumental choice, but does it really?

After careful consideration and very little research, I have come up with a few points that I think has comforted me and that every student should know.

First off, it’s okay not to go to college. College is not for everyone and if you feel like it’s not the right fit for you, you don’t have to go. I would hate to study math to a higher degree in college, let alone pay to study math. If you feel you’d be better off starting right away in the workforce or some other alternate, do that. Do what makes you happy.
Applying for colleges makes me anxious just thinking about it. Talking to admissions and visiting colleges, hoping to impress them, but until you start applying throw that thinking out the window. They’re there to wow you and convince you to pay for both the $60 application fee and $40,000+ annual tuition. Go into visits with an open mind, but don’t stress, you’re an investor they’re trying to rope in.

Once you start applying and thinking of majors and courses, take what would make you happiest. If a calligraphy class that has nothing to do with your major sounds interesting, take it. If that tiny college in the middle of nowhere clicks with you, go there. College is a learning experience and it provides you with the room to experiment. Don’t go to a college and take classes if they’re going to stress you out too much. Go and do what feels right.

Say you figure out you don’t like the college you’re at, it’s the end of the world, you’re stuck and now what? You’re not stuck. All you need to do is calm down and transfer. These monumental decisions aren’t permanent. They really aren’t all that monumental, not like everyone’s said. It’s okay to change your mind or decide that whatever you’re doing at the time isn’t what you want to be doing for the rest of your life.

It’s going to be okay, whatever you decide to do. Making mistakes and finding what makes us happy along the way is just part of being human. After all, don’t they all say it’s the journey that matters not the destination?