There comes a point in the duration of college when students experience uneasiness about the future and start evaluating where they are going and where they have been.

I’ve heard of it referenced as the “quarter-life crisis,” but I think of it as a case of the “what-ifs,” reminding me of a poem by Shel Silverstein I was infatuated with as a child.

As I prepare resumes for internships and apply for graduation, I cannot help but evaluate my past and analyze the future.

I feel mixed emotion of the fatigue of college life, but scared to leave it.

Somehow, the campus once viewed as the world at my feet now appears to be an ant farm of the inexperienced and immature.

The same crazy antics with a particular group of friends I once thrived on now seem juvenile, and over the years the group has dismembered.

Questions seems to build up about decisions I made in the past regarding friends, my lifestyle and academics. Insecurities about the stability of the future accumulate more rapidly while considering my level of stability currently established.

Though college appears to mean independence, financially I remain dependent on my parents and academically guided by advisers. Upon graduation, I will embark on new endeavors with more dependence on myself and less guidance and support from others.

And so, as I prepare for this new world, have my past decisions prepared me for what lies ahead?

Perhaps the groups I have latched on to over the years are neither on the right path nor are they the people I once perceived them to be. The person I once thought I was may be different from the person I am now and have become through experiences.

Worries about future finances as well as paying off debts, maintaining a love life and tackling the job market now have priority over getting wasted or hooking up.

Conversations or topics of world issues spark great interest and strong opinions rather than whom the hot frat boy is taking to barn dance.

Preparing for the different environments after college is scary in comparison to the conveniences of college “dorm” life. It is rare I will get the opportunity to share a house with three other girls or have frequent dinners with the apartment of guys next-door after I graduate. The security and comfort of having friends just a couple feet away will likely not exist.

Starting from the bottom in the real world will be intimidating as well as hard work, but as the past gets further behind, there is nothing more to do than move with the future.

So instead of fearing the future and regretting the past, I choose to savor the experiences I have left in college, but learn from the past mistakes of letting go of valued friendships, choosing “Stu’sdays” over studying and similarly, devoting all free time to extracurriculars instead of taking time to kickback with friends. It’s important to plan and look to the future seriously and without regret, but it is equally important to cherish college years as experiences one may never have again.