I went to boarding school for six years before I came to college. It’s safe to say that my experience was quite different from other high schoolers. It’s also safe to say that I thought I was more ready than everyone else to live 8,000 miles away from my family.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Moving to the US is very different from going to boarding school. Sure, there are some similarities like (maybe) having to share bathrooms and being around your friends most of the time, but there’s a lot more to it.

“With great freedom comes great responsibility.”

– Me, trying to prove my point.

No one can tell you what time to go to sleep or wake up.
…unless you have the misfortune of taking 8 a.m classes. That’s on you.

There stands nothing between you and binge eating snacks.
The prospect of not having to hide snacks in the bathroom and your suitcase is thrilling for sure. Your will-power level be high, or Freshman 15 is soon gonna turn into Freshman 50.

You will be required to metamorphose into at least 50% adult by managing your finances and paying your bills.
I hate taking financial responsibility but I hate being broke more, so here we are.

You no longer have excuses for not staying in touch with your family and friends back home.
I know most of you broke the rules at boarding school and smuggled your cell phones in (so did I). But in college, you have your phone on you most of the time, and everyone knows. You can no longer blame the administration of your school for not calling home often.

Classes are no longer as easy as they were before.
I mean, this is pretty obvious, since you’re working towards a degree as opposed to graduating high school, but still. The amount of work somehow grows exponentially and it is not rare for you to feel like a walking, eating, ball of stress.
That, and your class sizes will be HUGE in your first year, so your professor probably has never seen your face, let alone know your name and entire academic history.

You have to drag yourself to University Health Services if you’re sick.
Your friends are probably going to be the only ones who notice you’re sick in college. No Certified Adult™ is going to force you to go to the doctor, so yeah. Your life really is in your hands.

Either way, going to boarding school does prepare you for a lot of aspects of college, so you’ll still thrive, don’t worry!