Anybody in high school who has friends in college will most likely have a fixed mindset of what they will expect their new experience in college to feel like. Come Saturday, partying, tailgating, beer pong, seem to be the total life on social media, and you cannot wait to get a taste of that. Basically, everybody you know now in college seems to be thriving with the fraternity or sorority they are in; proclaiming they made the absolute best decision of their young lives by choosing this in college can tell you what they can expect to see on their social media accounts come Saturday. Now, your friends a year or two older than you have essentially laid down the ground work of what you will expect from the little things like fire alarms going off at random times in your dorm room to the crunch times such as late night papers and studying past midnight. However, the one thing I believed would occur to me is the belief that I would absolutely love my school. All due to my friends already in college stating how much they are thriving in school. Yes, there will be a good chunk of kids you know from your high school class that will say they are absolutely loving college, found their new BFF's for life in their fraternity or sorority, and just could not be happier at their new home. Unfortunately, some of you will not get so lucky (at least not right away or immediately) with how your college experience goes. Nobody who is a current senior in high school believes that they will end up not having the greatest experience at college or let alone not wanting to continue staying at their first school. It is easily one of the most frustrating feelings in the world when you see your high school friends absolutely enjoying their college experience, and you feel as if you are looking through the windows on a rainy night by not enjoying your first college. If you are one of those high school seniors that becomes one of those unlucky ones discontent with your college experience, it will totally suck. Another thing to keep in mind if that happens to you is that you can always get out of a college you are not in love with at anytime (unless you are in one of the military service academies or campus ROTC then you cannot leave), and more importantly, it is never too late to change your circumstances about college if you are willing to work hard and never give up on attending your true dream school.
My story proves that is never to late to start over with college. I grew up attending high school in one of the affluent suburbs of Chicago. Every year, my school district always ranks very high in academic achievement and overall best and most challenging high school curriculum in the country due to numerous students electing to study with honors and/or AP courses. Which in turn means a majority of our graduating seniors will elect to continue their education at the big, popular schools from the Big Ten, and more recently, my school has seen a growth of seniors choose SEC or popular California schools. Since my middle school days, I really wanted to go to a Big Ten School. Junior year is when I knew I wanted to make it happen, so I spent countless hours getting my grades up to one day go to a Big Ten School. I fared very well in the grade book that year, getting mostly A's and B's. However, my courses were only taken at the standard regular level, and because I was told my chances were not that great of going to a Big Ten School immediately after high school due to many of my peers excelling in AP and/or honors courses, those schools would meet their quota of how many students they can take in a given year and I would most likely not meet the quota. So I also had to apply to some smaller schools where I was a guaranteed lock to get in. I ultimately settled for one of the smaller schools in the University of Wisconsin system. Now, I will admit I was not overly enthusiastic or in love with that school like some of my peers were with their schools. To my credit, I still believed I could thrive at that small school since I was (and still am to some extent) very popular in high school and nearly everyone I knew from last years senior class was there absolutely loving their college. However, a month into the year, I had realized my initial perceptions were correct, I truly want to go to a Big Ten School. I came home after one disappointing semester. During that time, I did however truly commit myself to studying super hard so I would have the grades for one of my multiple Big Ten dream schools. The plan, while stressful and very worrisome with the fear that I would never get accepted into these schools, paid off. After having no chance in high school to get into a Big Ten Institution, I proved all of the doubters wrong this past winter and was accepted into every Big Ten School I applied to as a transfer student.
My message here is, you can always change the power of your college circumstances if things do not go right at your first school. If you still prove to your dream schools that you will work very hard no matter where it is you go, your dream school will eventually want you as a part of their community. And while there is some shame and disappointment in not enjoying your school, do not feel embarrassed if at any point you have to leave that institution for whatever reason it is to pursue your dream school and to better your circumstances of going to that particular school your heart has set on. Sure, it may feel really tough and disheartening to leave your friends you did make at that school, but if in the long run you do not see things working out at that school and/or you just still feel very strongly about attending another school that you truly wanted to attend but couldn't get in after high school, that is completely OK! You are not alone in those feelings! Other people have been or are currently in your difficult position about college!
After a long fight of getting into my dream schools as a transfer student, and numerous discussions with myself, family and friends, about which Big Ten School I was accepted into fits me the best, I could not feel more excited to attend my dream school, The University of Iowa beginning this fall. The only thing I can do for myself is pray that my experience at Iowa is going to end up to be truly what I was looking for in my college experiences.
Never give up on your dream school no matter what!
And GO HAWKEYES!
