When picking colleges during my junior year of high school, I thought I had everything figured out. I was so sure that I was going to go to one school and I was going to stay there for all four years. The joke was clearly on me because after my first semester of college, I was already applying to a different school and begging my advisor to help me transfer.

Senior year, I picked my school, University of Missouri. I had wanted to go there since my sophomore year of high school. It is a huge school, with an amazing journalism program and I thought this was the best option for me.

The first time I saw the school, I was in love. I knew it was where I wanted to be but as the time passed on, I became unsure. I think there were a lot of things that made me want to go to Mizzou. I loved the distance, the program, the atmosphere and the fact that nobody wanted me to go there. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I chose the school my mom did NOT want me to go to in a weird but big act of rebellion.

I wanted to make my own decisions. My whole family, most of my friends, and even my high school teachers told me that Illinois State was going to be the best decision for me, as I sit in Fell Hall today I realize, they weren't wrong.

Now, I don't want anyone to be confused, I loved Mizzou and I still do but it was not for me. I did not thrive there, I had fun and made friends and did well in my classes but mentally and emotionally, I was not well.

Somehow, me trying to figure out where my best fit was going to be for me mentally, people twisted it into me trying to be closer to my boyfriend. Let me be the first and last person to tell you, I did not transfer schools to be closer to my boyfriend, I transferred schools because when I woke up in the morning I had no motivation to get out of bed.

I started to skip classes as well as meals. I fell into a depression and wanted nothing more than to leave Mizzou in my rear view mirror and never look back. The amount of debt I acquired within one semester was troubling, I had to pay for school all on my own and immediately felt like I was drowning. There were nights where all I did was curl up into a ball on my bed and cry because I had no idea how I was going to pay for anything.

On those same nights, I would cry because I couldn't see my family. I had never been away from home and although I thought it was going to be good for me, I soon realized that I was the most home bodied person I had ever met. I would cry to my mom begging her to let me come home.

I never truly wanted to admit to myself that I was going to transfer. I would just constantly tell myself I was just going to drop out and go live at home because if I couldn't be at my dream college, I did not want to be anywhere. Quickly after thinking about what my life would be if I decided to move into my grandma's basement, I decided it was time to start looking at other schools.

I came to the decision that I wanted to be at a school closer to home, with my friends, that still had a good program for my major. Suddenly I was sat looking at the Illinois State transfer application. Within a month, I had sent every transcript and every essay I needed to ISU and received an acceptance soon thereafter.

It was at that moment that I realized, not everything is going to go as planned. You can think that something is so right for you that it couldn't be wrong and it could actually be a disaster. It took me about a month to decide that I was actually going to leave Mizzou after my freshman year because I did not want people to think I couldn't stick to something I said I was going to.

I talked to my family and everyone reassured me that it did not matter what other people thought. That is when I realized, I was transferring for me. All of this was for me. Transferring was a tough decision and a long process.

If you are looking for a sign to transfer but aren't sure it is the right decision for you, here is your sign. If you think that you will feel better, do it. If you are not happy where you are, do it. People are more supportive then you think and I promise you will be much happier when you finally decide this is your best decision.