What do I wish I had done differently in college?  This is the tough one, because there are so many opportunities to learn and do and meet in college that you can never take advantage of them all.  I wish I had been more deliberate in who I spent time with and how I spent it, because the four years sure did fly by.  I did learn—but not until my senior year—to quit worrying about grades.  Not to ignore them, but to be diligent in the work and trust God for the results.  One caveat: diligence means not cramming in the library the night before the midterm.  God gave me so many opportunities to share His love in college, and I’m sorry to say that I missed a lot of them because I hadn’t been diligent and had to cram.  Spent less time stressed and more time enjoying the opportunity in front of you!

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I wish that I had known how easy it was going to be to fall away from things spiritual.  I was away from all that I knew.  Perhaps I had "high schooled" in a little Christian bubble and need to accept part of the naive blame.  BUT, I had no clue.  I didn't go wild, but I did easily fall away from church and spiritual organizations and friends.  Took me years to return, and those years were bad.  In retrospect, I really wish my church and/or parents had warned me.  The best advice I received in college was actually from my dad, and it is still good today and has served me very well over the years.  The advice was "It never hurts to ask."  

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The best thing to know about college is that it's four incredible years of your life that in no way will resemble what your life is like once you graduate.  You'll no longer be able to do walk across the hall of your dorm to chat with a buddy at 2:00 a.m.  Or have unlimited closets from which to borrow clothes.  Or order pizza so much in the span of a month.  But what you will have is a truly unforgettable experience of learning in the classroom, but mostly, learning about yourself apart from the cozy confines of Mom and Pop's home.

The best advice I ever received was to spend a little bit of time with God each day, even in the midst of the busyness. In fact, the busier you are, the more crucial it is.  Another helpful pre-college reminder was to always make sure the company you keep is the best company.  After all, who we hang out with reflects who we are.  And if you happen to go to a Christian university like I did, it's important to remember there's more fish in the sea opposite sex-wise.  Just because everyone else is getting married doesn't mean you have to if you don't happen to meet the love of your life there.  It's also wise to keep in mind that not everyone at a Christian university will be on the same page beliefs-wise, so don't be disappointed if people aren't exactly walking the talk.

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Before college, I wish I would have known the steep increase in the level of study time necessary to achieve really good grades compared to high school.  A's were a breeze in HS; hard work in college.

The best advice in college came from a great English Lit professor:  When you learn about the difficult challenges those around you face, don't forget to immediately thank God for "giving" you your challenges, as they will usually look pretty small compared to theirs.  Then she added, "and be sure to reach out to those for whom you can offer some relief and yours will become even smaller."

If I could have done anything differently, I wish I would have studied even more, once I realized what it was going to take to keep up and attempt to excel.

EXTRA SPECIAL NOTE:  Please share this advice with anyone you know who is college bound!  And then share your own in the User Comments section below.  This is good stuff, folks.  And it’s a free gift that will (hopefully) keep on giving for semesters, and perhaps years, to come.