Dear student,

I would like to share my story of college admissions and decisions with you as you are making a similar decision yourself. When people ask me about where I go to school I say "I go to Florida State University". I didn't always answer their question this way though. I used to say "I'm an honors student and political science major at Florida State University". I used to try to justify my school choice to them and to myself.

Whether you're a rising community college student, or about to attend a top 10 public university, you shouldn't feel the need to justify your school to anybody. I used to take time to explain that I was accepted to FSU and UF for the fall 2019 term and that I made the choice to go to FSU. I used to make it very clear that FSU offered me scholarships and other benefits that UF did not and that I was going to FSU because of its location and my chosen major. I was sure to mention that I was in the honors program at FSU and that I felt I had a wider preexisting friend group in Tallahassee to help me feel more at home. All of these things are true, but none of them should matter when you tell someone where you go to school.

As college admissions are released and you make your choices about where you want to go to school, you may feel that you need to try to justify their choice to yourself and others. I'm here to be the voice to tell you that you don't need to justify it. If you're a high school student going into college, you are going to the school you're meant to go to. You made the right choice. Your acceptance or denial to certain colleges don't define your worth as a student or as a person. You're exactly where you're supposed to be in this moment and wherever you end up going to school will be the right path for you. My advice is to let that knowledge be enough for you when people ask you where you go to school. And please let that knowledge be enough for yourself too. I promise you will fall in love with your school and the people you meet there. I can promise it because I walked that path and experienced that growth myself.