"Why are you attending Alabama?" has been a question that has been asked to me by many. I address this basically daily to the people in my daily life. Most people assume it is because they have an amazing football team, which is not wrong, that was definitely a perk for me, but it is not the main reason. Choosing where I was to go to college was not easy, and i hope this can help more people understand, why.
To me, The University of Alabama is not just a school, it is a home. I fell in love with the campus, the people and the city of Tuscaloosa, the first time I visited there. You get this feeling when you walk on that campus, most everyone is friendly and kind, and genuinely happy to be there, which is something you do not usually see at a college. The Greek life was a huge perk to me, as well. I fell in love with how big and celebrated the Greek community is at the school. Rush week is a big part of the Alabama experience and I cannot wait to experience that, next fall. The student life never fails to amaze me. There are so many different opportunities on and off campus for students and that was super important to me going into my college search.
I knew I wanted to major in Telecommunications and Film Production with a minor in Sports Writing and Production for the past few years. The University of Alabama has a strong program for my major and my minor which is something that I could not say for most schools I was planning on applying to. It has been a dream of mine for years to work for the NFL (national football league) and to me, that dream could become a reality with my degree in Alabama. The obvious question i would get from people is "Why not move to California or New York for school, since that's where your major is most dominant?" My answer was always simple, "It's not the place for me."
For the last almost ten years, I have lived in the South. I fell in love with the weather, and the people here. During my college search, I branched out to states further north such as: Utah, New York, Washington State, California and Maryland. In that search, the only state that I truly could see myself in was Utah. To me, Alabama is a perfect state. It gets cold, without being too cold, it gets hot, very hot, and it is close enough to the beach without being too close. The location is perfect, which was something that was a big factor in my search.
Most importantly, I felt comfortable there. I felt like Alabama was a place that I could call home for long term. I kept imagining what my life would be like there and to me, that is when you know that a place, is the place for you. Your heart should completely fall in love with a school before you decided that it is the one for you. Your college process should not take five minutes, they call it a process for a reason. Put your all into it, and hopefully you will find the place for you in the end, like I did. Roll Tide Roll!
