When applying for different colleges with friends that one topic comes up repeatedly. “What if we go to the same college together?” or “Imagine if we were roommates!” Well, I have something to tell you. DO NOT GO TO THE SAME COLLEGE AS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BEST FRIEND. If you want to build up future relationships and grow as a person, you do not want your high school best friend to cling to. By going to the same college and even rooming with your best friend of 4+ years, you will never put yourself out there as much as you’d want. College is all about discovering yourself, learning new things, and forming new relationships. If you already have a close friend, why make new ones? People will be less inclined to get to know you if you already have someone attached to your hip.
Of course, I miss being attached to the hip with my best friend from high school. Her name was Liz and we have known each other since the summer of fifth grade. When senior year rapidly approached, and it was time to pick schools, we both knew we could not go to the same college. We both have pretty bad social anxiety, and when we talked about it with each other we realized we would not be able to leave our shells if we had each other to fall back onto. I was extremely reserved throughout high school because of this social anxiety. I always went back to the thought of, “I have close friends I don’t need more.” Liz also had the same thought pattern. Throughout high school if there was a school trip we would only go if the other person was going. We knew we’d have the most fun if you were with a person who knows everything about you. Even after all of that I now go to UW-GB, and she goes to UW-Madison. Though we are three hours away from each other, I would argue our relationship has never been stronger. Because we are not constantly living our lives together, we get excited to share new news. Being 125 miles apart was so smart.
Photo: @sansanmaoer on Instagram.