Hi guys!
So a few days ago, Samantha posted her college search
journey. Mine was slightly different, so I wanted to share my perspective with
you guys!
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go to
college in California. I love the warm weather, and, since I want to be part of
the beauty industry, I thought LA was the perfect place to start. When my
parents told me it was time to start looking for school, I said USC. I love
everything about USC, and that was my dream school. My dad and I took a trip
out to LA to visit schools. We saw USC, UCLA, Claremont-McKenna Schools,
Occidental, UCSB, and UCI. This trip taught me a ton. It taught me that there
is such things as that feeling. Some say its like finding your soul mate… when
you know, you know.
So I knew about USC. I loved that school and everything
about it. I thought I had a fair shot at getting in, and I wanted to be done
looking at schools.
That trip also reminded me that I do so much better in small
classes. USC and small classes don’t exactly overlap.
So we went back to the drawing board. I opened up my very
narrow search to Universities in the south as well. I looked at Emory, Oxford
at Emory, Elon, and Wake Forest. I like all of these schools (except Oxford at
Emory), but none of them gave me that feeling.
A few weeks later, I saw American University, George
Washington University, University of Richmond, and The College of William and
Mary. That trip was the first time I “caught feelings for a school” after realizing
USC would not be the best fit.
Throughout the entire summer, I thought I was planning on
EDing to The College of William and Mary. I focused a lot of time on writing a
supplement that was perfect for the university.
In September, I went back to VA to see the college again
with my mom. I wanted her to get a look at the school before I possibly
committed to attending. That was when I had some issue and realized maybe the
college wasn’t the best fit. There wasn’t enough to do around the school, and
almost no restaurants nearby. I also realized I did not really want to attend a
super rigorous university. I spent the past four years in a very high-stress,
intense high school, and was not ready for the same type of experience. So I
changed my ED to the University of Richmond.
I applied to Richmond in early October, which gave me a nice
break from college essays. The first weekend, I went to visit a few more
schools. I had my first choice, but I didn’t love any school enough to make it
a clear second. I visited 3 Pennsylvania schools: Lehigh University, Franklin
& Marshall, and Bucknell University.
2 out of the three schools were nice. Other than being in
Pennsylvania, I could see myself at them. The third, had become my first
choice. I loved the school more than Richmond. When I was on campus, I loved
the energy and feeling of the people. Everyone seemed so happy despite the very
cold weather. So I went home and called my dean. I explained my dilemma (of
finding a new first choice after already sending in a binding application), and
inquired if he had any suggestions. To make a very long story slightly shorter,
I ended up rescinding my application to the University of Richmond and applied
Early Decision to my new first choice.
My decision was released on December 13th. The
few days leading up to the Wednesday were very rough. Knowing that this
decision was going to be the first big step in my life, I was really nervous.
On the 11th and 12th, I started checking the website to
see if there were any updates. On December 12th, at 9 pm, I decided
to check one more time. And there it was… Bucknell University Class of 2022.
Wow. I was finally done. But my happiness was dimmed with a
few of my closest friends got rejected from their first choice colleges. I had
to find a way to be happy for myself, and celebrate, but be very respectful of
and comforting to my friends at the same time.
My advice for the process:
-Take your time, and do your research
-Focus on what will help you succeed as a student. What
school has the classes and programs that will be able to elevate you to be your
best.
-Don’t get caught up on the name of a university. At my
school, everyone wants to go to a top tier university… I chose a university
that had the perfect program for me and my needs!
I write this very long post to share my experience. At my
high school, college is all anyone thinks about. First semester freshman year,
we start taking about classes that are tough enough to look good for
universities. As I briefly mentioned before, my high school is a very rigorous,
stress intense school, so the college process is a very big deal for all of us.
If you go to a normal high school, there is a very good chance that your
process was much different.
Lastly… There is no one way to plan your future. Each person
is different and should treat their future as such. I wrote this post only to
share my experience—If you are going through something similar, this post can
(hopefully) serve as some inspiration. If your experience is absolutely nothing
like mine, you can be happy that you don’t have to go through all this crazy
mess!
As Samantha said in her post, I have a ton of
college-related posts coming soon! I want to share decorating my dorm room with
you, as well as just everything I am doing to prepare for next year.
Please leave specific post requests below! Also please leave
your college search experience! I would love to know what you guys did so I can
give advice to my two younger sisters.
Thank you so much for reading, and I’m so so excited to see
what the future holds.
XOXO,
Jordan
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