Freshman year of college you battled orientation week, dorm life with that crazy stranger you found on Facebook, and received your lowest GPA to date.  You graduated high school and learned the benefits of hospital corners all in the same year – you needed some recklessness!  Sophomore year, though a bit repetitive, was your extended warranty on that helluva good time.  Thankfully, your GPA started to increase as your memorization of the campus map sunk in, and that girl who once locked you out of your room so she could burn your teddy bear?  History.

Embarking on your junior year of college feels a bit like pushing the snooze button on your alarm clock.  You do not have to wake up and enter the real world just yet, but the reminder that it is right around the corner is starting to set in.  Two years ago, you thought you knew what independence, a real friend, and a real I.D. were.  Time was limitless and life an effortless strew of shenanigans.  At twenty years old you’re still considered a “kid” by your parents, professors, and maybe even yourself.  But it’s at this age that we finally begin to comprehend the meaning of time, and how little of it we have left to start making the greatest decisions that will affect the rest of our lives.

At first you thought you were destined to be a doctor… and then a psychiatrist, accountant, and now you’re on your way to becoming the best second grade teacher your hometown has ever seen!  Whether you declared your major at seven years old or thirty minutes before the deadline, whatever you chose is now set in stone.  Even if you can’t wait to kick start your career, I’ll admit it is a bit daunting knowing the window of opportunity has closed.

What you do with your last two years of college play an important role in forming your future.  Rack up your internships, try not to blow your whole paycheck on the weekends, and give the pale kid from your anatomy class a break and accept his date offer – ya never know!  You’ve been presented countless times with flyers on the Commons and at student organization fairs with every opportunity your school has to offer.  Now is the time to start narrowing down those prospects.

Junior year doesn’t mean the end of keg stands or choosing witchcraft as your last elective. It just means that time is no longer an infinite concept, and that the rate of it moves faster than you’d once thought.  Now that you know the ropes, it’s time to take what you’ve learned as a freshman and sophomore and use them to your advantage as a junior and senior. Hang in there junior – it’s not over yet!

 Are you about to be a college junior?  What are your thoughts on entering your third year?

Alexa is a twenty-something student at James Madison University. She is majoring in Media Arts & Design and minoring in both Creative Writing and Anthropology. She aspires a career at a magazine.
Alexa Johnson has 10 post(s) on Love Twenty