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Myth #4.  If you put yourself out there, you'll make new friends.

The problem with high school is that everyone already knows everyone else.  Unless you go to one of those huge schools with like four thousand students.  Even then, people will take about two seconds to decide who you are just by how you look.  In most cases, everyone has made judgments about everyone else a long time ago.  These judgments are pretty much carved in stone.  So you're locked into the image of what everyone else thinks you are.  Which seriously blows.

College is monumentally better.  When you first get there, no one knows who you are yet.  There are zero limitations to prevent you from connecting with potential new friends.  You know how sometimes you plan to reinvent yourself over the summer and come back all improved?  But it never seems to work out that way?  Think of college as the ultimate reinvention opportunity.  It's a chance to become the person you've always wanted to be, the person you know you could be if you could just get away from here.  Fresh starts are awesome.  Yours awaits.

Myth #5.  The career you decide on now will be your career forever.

Life is a wild thing.  That is some hardcore truth right there.  Just when you think you're zigging one way, life zags the other.  You're completely thrown off course without even one shred of warning.  This means that life is sometimes scary.  There are some things we just don't have control over.  But there are a lot of things you can control, including how you live your life.  The person you become is up to you.  You can have one job forever or a bunch of different ones.

Example.  When I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a science teacher.  At that time, I didn't imagine that I would ever be fortune enough to be an author one day.  Teaching was definitely the right career for me.  But so is writing books for teens.  When the opportunity to become a full-time author arose, I had to take it.  I love my job.  Will I still be doing this when I'm 50?  I sure hope so, but there's no way to know yet.  The important thing is to always follow your heart.  Your heart knows.

P.S.  It's totally okay if you have no idea what you want to be when you grow up.  A lot of grownups don't even know.

Myth #6.  The popular kids will be the most successful.

In case you haven't heard, it's the eccentric, nerdy, quirky kids who grow up to be the most interesting, caring, accomplished people.  Game on.

Susane Colasanti, Waiting for You, Viking Children's, Penguin Books