Dear Wake Forest Admissions Department,

I remember when I first stepped foot on campus. I was 9 years old and was dragged against my will to go with my best friend and her older sister on a college tour. I was so angry that my playdate consisted of an hour long car ride and a 5 hour long tour around a college I didn't care about (it was not actually 5 hours but to my nine year old brain, it felt like it). Little did I know that going on that playdate would start a subconscious love for Wake Forest.

Fast forward to my junior year in high school. I was looking at schools and was convinced that UNC was my dream school. But my parents forced me to look at other schools, like every other parent. The day that we toured Wake Forest was around Thanksgiving break and it was just me, my grandmother, and my mom. Our first stop of the day was UNC and we were later going to lunch in Winston-Salem with my boyfriend before our Wake Forest tour. After the UNC information session, we looked at the time and realized that if we went on the campus tour, we would miss lunch. Being the lovestruck high schooler I was, love trumped college. So we left my dream school to go to Winston-Salem.

Being back on campus was like deja-vu. It was like magic. I just knew that it was were I was meant to be. I loved everything about it. I decided then and there that I would be applying early decision. Like WAAY early decision.

The day the application came out, I was at dinner with my mom and we spent dinner brainstorming essay ideas. I had it all planned out. I had my future all planned out. So, on August 15th, I submitted my application. I was practically giddy with excitement.

I knew that there was a chance that I would either get deferred or denied, but Wake was my dream school and bad things couldn't happen because of that. So imagine my surprise/disappointment when I found out in September that my dreams weren't going to happen like I had planned.

I was deferred.

I thought I was being punished. I thought it was a cruel joke. I thought it was a bad dream. I lost it. I was so upset. My parents were away when the news came in and after 30 minutes of bawling on the phone, my dad said to me, "I will give you tonight to be upset and then tomorrow you are going to wake up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You will wake up and figure out a new plan."

At first, I was so angry that he was being so cruel when I was so upset. But, he was right.

So I waited. I worked harder than I had ever worked. I sent email after email to the admissions department. I dreamt about being there. I got better grades than I had ever gotten.

Fast forward again to March and I received the best news in the entire world. And it was then that I realized how thankful I was to have gotten deferred.

If I had been accepted in September, I would not have worked as hard as I did. I would not have been able to prove to myself how resilient I am. I would not have learned how to work for my dreams. I would not have gotten the best grades I had ever gotten. I would not have had the late night study sessions with my best friends. I would not have paid as much attention in my classes and not learned as much as I did. I would have missed out on so many special moments had I been accepted in September.

Yes, it would have been nice to know so early and not have all the stress that I did, but at the same time, I would have missed out on so much. I wouldn't have been able to relate to the rest of my class going through the college process. My senior year was the most special year of high school and I wouldn't change it for the world.

So, Wake Forest Admissions Department... thank you for deferring me. It taught me to be patient and to work hard. It made me want it even more and made the acceptance letter that much sweeter.