Leaving home for college means you’ll be exploring a new place, making new friends and setting your own priorities.

You’re going to face big changes in a small amount of time, which can be both exciting and intimidating.

Although being in college means that you have new independence, it doesn’t mean you’re on your own.

College is full of resources; professors, tutors, counselors and advisors and help are available, but it’s up to you to ask for it.

If you can’t keep up with your course work or other responsibilities, it’s time to talk to someone; don’t wait until you get your midterm grades.

For someone like me, it took a while to admit to myself that I needed support, but once I did, it was amazing how helpful people were.

As a freshman, I could wake up at 7 am each day, could eat a steady supply of junk food, and had no one to harangue me about doing problem sets.

But this behavior resulted in a cycle of late-night term paper sessions that led to napping in the middle of a lecture on different equations.

I learned the hard way that managing your time well becomes even more important when you leave high school for college.

Schoolwork is a priority, but extracurricular activities, jobs, and internships are important parts of your college life too.

One of the best and worst things about college is that there are so many things to do besides taking classes. You’ll have to make choices regularly about where to focus your energy.

College also means a new social scene. You may be wondering what the social scene will be like at college.

In fact, that could be one of the factors in your decision about where to go. Moving to a new place where you’ll know few people if any.

This is a great opportunity to make new friends and try new things. You can even reinvent yourself if you want to.

In high school, there’s a clear line between school life and home life. But when you go to college and live on campus, you are constantly among friends.

So it’s important to balance having fun with the other parts of your life: studying, staying healthy and even sleeping.

Your new independence will probably include being responsible for your money and spending.

You may have your own bank account and ATM card, shop for your own food and pay your own bills.

The keys to keeping your finances in order are to set a budget and stick to it and to keep track of how much you have in your bank account.