Dakota Fanning Covers W Magazine December 2011 alongside her younger sister Elle Fanning. The photoshoot was incredibly and tastily done. The photographer for the shoot was Mario Sorrenti and the interview for the two young ladies was done by Lynn Hirschberg. Dakota Fanning has been busy filming and attending college, and she feels that it is important for her to experience college life.

Fanning decided to go to college because she doesn’t want to miss out on the life experience of saying “I did that in college.” She explains, “For the same reasons I wanted to go to a high school: You hear people say, ‘Oh, when I was in high school’ or ‘When I was in college.’ That defines a lot of who people are, and I didn’t want to miss out on that.”

For those who don’t know Fanning is still only 17 years old and yes, she is in college. She talks about her living situation for college, “No roommates. Because I’m only 17, my mom is staying with me in my apartment for a little bit. She’s teaching me how to wash clothes and such. But I’m so excited to be on my own. In my house in L.A., we all feel that everything is everybody’s, and so doors are never really closed. My sister and I share a bathroom, and when you have a sibling, nothing is actually your own. I’ve never really had anything or any place that was just mine.”

Trying to balance her personal life and career can be hard, but she has received a few informal advices from people along the way, “I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten any formal advice, but I’ve always felt that you should never forget that you’re just a person. Even though you’re not like everyone else, you are just like everyone else. For instance, I met someone the other day, and they said, ‘Hi, I’m so-and-so.’ I said, ‘Hi, I’m Dakota.’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ But I can’t lose the fact that I still need to introduce myself to people even though they might already know my name or who I am. Oh, yeah, I guess you already know my name, but I’m going to say it anyway.”

Fanning began acting in such a young age and she is very accustomed to how the Hollywood lifestyle is. Fanning talks about how this type of lifestyle is what she knows, “It’s all I’ve ever experienced, and it’s what I’m used to. When you’re 6 years old, which is when I started, I think you start forming how you think about things. I’ve dealt with being known for so long that it’s just kind of normal to me. And that attention comes with what I love to do, which is act.”

Acting has pretty much been part of her life and she can’t imagine doing anything else, “I never have. It’s the only thing I feel like I know how to do well. I don’t really play any sports. Maybe in college I’ll find something else to do if this doesn’t work out. But I’ve never wanted to do anything else.”

Check out W Magazine November 2011 Nicki Minaj addition.