Hillary Rodham Clinton is the guest-editor of our Volume IV issue, on newsstands nationally December 5. She will keynote at the first-ever Teen Vogue Summit in conversation with actress, scholar, and activist Yara Shahidi. The Teen Vogue Summit will take place on December 1 & 2 in Los Angeles. Tickets and information are available here.

Dear Hillary,

Well, you’ve nearly finished your first semester at Wellesley—congratulations!

When you first arrived on campus, you found yourself surrounded by brilliant, accomplished women. They were fluent in other languages. They had lived abroad. They had already read half the books on the syllabus. That was intimidating—so intimidating, in fact, that you called your parents and told them you didn’t belong at Wellesley after all, and you needed to come home. Your dad, who’d never really wanted you to go so far away for school in the first place, was more than ready to welcome you back. But your mother was not about to let that happen. She said you had to be brave; you had to stick it out. And you had the good sense not to argue, which turned out to be one of the best decisions you ever made.

I know it’s hard to believe right now, Hillary, but soon you are going to share that story with those classmates who seem so worldly today. You will all laugh when you realize that every single one of you felt the same way. There is a lesson there for you: Take risks, and don’t be afraid to get caught trying. Do your best to embrace the excitement that comes with not knowing what’s next, and remember that confidence and an open mind will always serve you better than insecurity and doubt. And the next time someone raises her hand in class and says something really smart, go up to her afterward and introduce yourself. You’ll be glad you did. At Wellesley and throughout your life, you’ll find yourself in plenty of rooms where you’re sure everyone is smarter than you are—and sometimes they will be. But one of the best things in life is getting to know intelligent, inspiring people who have something to say. Learn from them. Ask their advice. Support them, and let them support you. After all, you’re plenty smart, too. Remember how Mrs. King in sixth grade used to tell you not to hide your light under a bushel basket? She was right.

Here’s something else, Hillary: For a girl who likes to have a plan, you are going to take a lot of leaps of faith. I can’t promise they’ll all work out the way you want them to. But I can promise that you will learn from every single one of them. When your fellow students at Wellesley ask you to give the graduation speech on behalf of the class of 1969, you’ll be humbled and a little terrified. Do it anyway. Down the road, your tall, handsome boyfriend who’s crazy about politics will ask you to move to Arkansas with him. It will be a pretty outlandish suggestion—in fact, your friend Sara will spend the entire drive to Little Rock trying to talk you out of it—but your heart will steer you right. Later, that same man will encourage you to run for the U.S. Senate: “You’d be great at it. I’d love to vote for you.” You should do that, too. Oh, and when president-elect Barack Obama says he wants to talk to you about a job opportunity in his cabinet, hear him out. Serving your community, your state, and your country will be the greatest privilege of your life.