The college word is out! March and April brought news that either crushed young people’s dreams or affirmed them — namely, Berkeley acceptance letters (or rather, acceptance emails). If you’ve been blessed and/or cursed with what the world calls younger siblings (whom you might affectionately call your personal punching bag or dress-up doll), you may have been one of the many family members across the state waiting to hear if their high school senior got in to the No. 1 public school in the country. (We like to brag.) If your sibling was one of the lucky ones, congratulations! You have another baby Golden Bear in the family! The question is, is it good news for you, too?

You’re happy for your little bro/sis, of course. It might be their dream school! It’s got the exact program they want, or maybe it’s just far enough from home to be extra appealing. After all, they’ve probably seen how much fun you have going here and wouldn’t mind doing the same. If you’re graduating it probably won’t make a difference to you. They’ll just be following in your footsteps and becoming your legacy! But if you’ve still got a few semesters to go, will that kid from home bother you?

Think about it. Will you really be able to avoid them here? Sure, you’ll probably have different classes. And it’s not like you’ll have to see them 24/7, with the huge campus and student body and all that. But are you going to live together? Chances are your parents would prefer it to keep the baby bear safe. Will you introduce them to people? You’d probably look like a jerk if you didn’t. Would you mind if they hit if off with your group of friends and started hanging out with them? Uhhh … that’s pretty awkward.

But we’re not trying to get you down or say it’s a bad thing to have family here! In the long run, it’ll probably be really nice for both of you to have a little piece from home here with you. You’ll be able to continue mocking each other and stealing each other’s things even while at school. Back to basics. Homesickness? Chances are it’ll be close to nothing; your baby sib is here.

Just be sure to balance time spent with one another and time spent apart. Once you find that balance, we’re sure having your sibling here will be great. From all of us at the Clog, congratulations to our future Golden Bears! We can’t wait to meet you. But be prepared for incoming freshman jokes next fall!

Image source: ulianne under Creative Commons.