Most people, come their senior year, are faced with choosing a college. For some, the college decision is easy and they know right away where they want to attend college. For others, myself included, the college decision can be extremely stressful and difficult. During my senior year, I struggled with making a decision about college. At one point, I thought I had it all figured out, but then the tables turned, and, ironically, I found myself looking at a college I told myself I was not even going to bother with.

My dad has been teaching math at Northwestern Oklahoma State University for eighteen years, so of course I was familiar with the college. I grew up spending time in my dad’s office, drawing on the whiteboards in his classrooms and attending various sporting events with him. To me, NWOSU was just the college down the street from my house. I had never put much thought into attending school there. I told myself there was no way I was going to stay in Alva, the town I had spent nearly my entire life in, and attend NWOSU. In fact, my exact words to my parents were: “I will look at any college but NWOSU.”

During the fall of my senior year, I began looking at schools in Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. I visited five schools between these four states, and was able to eliminate two of them rather quickly. I was then left with three schools to decide between: the University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University and Pittsburg State University. By Christmas, I still had not made my decision, and I was growing anxious. Most of my classmates knew where they were attending college, and I still did not have a clue.

I eventually eliminated OU first. I liked the campus, but it was not the school for me. Even though CSU had been my top choice of the three, it was the second school to go. Out-of-state tuition was through the roof (like $42,000 a year through the roof) and I grudgingly accepted it was too expensive for me to attend. That left Pitt State. In February, I told my parents I thought attending Pitt State was right for me. Logically, since it was my last option, I figured it was a good choice. My choice never felt perfectly right, but I had not disliked Pitt State, so I convinced myself it was the best option.

In April, everything changed when an assistant soccer coach from NWOSU saw me at high school soccer practice. I spoke with him after practice, and he encouraged me to look into school and soccer at NWOSU. At first, I was not sure I wanted to look into NWOSU. Never before had I even considered NWOSU an option, and I had told myself several times I wanted to leave Alva. Yet, I could not shake the feeling that I should consider playing soccer at NWOSU. Before I knew it, I was calling the head soccer coach at NWOSU to set up a time to practice with the team. After practicing with the team and meeting with the head coach, I was given the option to play soccer at NWOSU. I suddenly felt like I was back at square one: I had no idea where I wanted to attend college. Since NWOSU had become a legitimate option for me, I met with a professor in the Mass Communication department to discuss the program. It was that meeting that ultimately made the decision for me. For the first time, I knew exactly where I wanted to attend college. It was May when I finalized my decision to play soccer and major in Mass Communication at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

After spending many stressful months trying to decide which college to choose, in the end, NWOSU chose me. It was definitely not the school I thought I would ever attend, but I could not be more excited to start my journey there this fall.

Ride, Rangers, Ride!