probably took me until sometime sophomore year to get adjusted to until I felt like I was on the same playing field as everyone else.
people i've met in college in engineering are wicked combination of smarts & hard-work though... the playing field never stops escalating in STEM careers. Someone's achieved X, has done Y, and while doing Z at the same time. It took me a long time to get over that and my grades suffered in these intro classes because I thought I wasn't cut from the same cloth from private-school kids.
A friend's dad I know got a PhD in Chemical Engineering and is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but his father was a dead-beat heroin addict who got arrested multiple times and moved his family around constantly. I can't imagine what his life was like, but he managed to make his academics work for him and now he's a senior researcher working for a Fortune 500 doing extremely well.
Water, I wish I was in your shoes looking forward to my 1st year of college and figuring out how to be prepared. You seem to have your mind on straight. You're in the right place & time to succeed, be dedicated and you'll do great in college.
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