The Real World by Rachel

The Real World by Rachel - November 2016 Scholarship Essay

It’s the beginning of the end -- the last year of high school -- and I finally feel like I’ve earned my place as a senior. I am running the home stretch, and I am ready to face whatever may lay ahead. Or so I hope.
I am told to brace myself for the real world, for it is coming, and it is coming fast; it feels as if nothing can be done to stop the foreboding beating of the drums, marching me down to receive my diploma. It is time to face the harshness of the world on my own, with new places, situations, and people to deal with. Lucky for me, I’m going to college first.
College offers a multitude of opportunities to all its students; allowing students to focus on a subject that they love and work towards an education and potential employment. Students learn how to work with people as adults and make a difference in the world. They have classes to take, lessons to learn, people to meet and things to see; however, I believe the most valuable experience college can offer is the chance to learn to live independently in a place where one can feel at home. We are sent away at age eighteen, to live on our own, but we aren’t ready. No one truly is. So we are able to go to college, where we learn and grow mentally and emotionally in a safe place. College provides an appropriate transition from the life of a minor to the life of an independent adult, and for that I am incredibly grateful.
For me, senior year is a time of change, as everything I’ve ever known will become a memory, and that can be frightening -- but instead of being thrown to the wolves of the world I am able to go to a place where I can learn to live on my own, discovering who I truly am. The college experience is predictable, but still one hundred percent individualized. I’ll be living in a dorm, with roommates who likely share my values; I’ll be presented with activities that are built for people just like me. Still, I’ll be able to create my own schedule, choose my own friends, and have the kind of college experience that I want. An idea of what lies ahead -- as well as an assurance that I’ll be in a place built just for people like me -- gives me the confidence to step out into the unknown, wide-eyed and suitcase in hand, ready to be knocked off my feet by the real world.