I know this sounds like the standard answer but it really does depend on what you choose to do with your time away. 1) If you just want to get away from home, you will most definitely get that – you will be with plenty of people from so many different cultures and it’ll be quite exciting especially if you’re not from a big city like NYC/Chicago. 2) Counterintuitively, your family life will almost certainly improve as both parties begin to appreciate each other more. This is a fairly common theme for a lot of people I know. 3) There’ll be a ton of opportunities almost no matter where you go, so it’s very important (if you care about this stuff) to test out a large variety of clubs Freshman Fall. That way, you’ll meet more people, you’ll build a better CV for jobs, and you’ll feel more secure in what will be a largely foreign environment (I assume).