If you went to high school in Georgia, you know that UGA is pretty much everyone's first choice school: the parties, the academics, the prestige, and, of course, the game days are every high school student's dream. If you can't afford UGA (or you can't get in), you're probably aiming for Georgia Southern, GCSU, West Georgia, Valdosta, Kennesaw, or Georgia State. But, the University of North Georgia-Dahlonega never really seems to be on anyone's list. Despite great academics, a lower than average acceptance rate, an incredibly beautiful campus and low tuition, UNG remains Georgia's forgotten university. UNG, however, was my first choice and the only university I applied to.

I, like a lot of other people my age, was not immune to the lure of Athens. In fact, most of my high school career was spent making sure I had the grades to get into UGA. My GPA was high enough, my test scores were high enough, and I was dead set on UGA, but I took my parents' advice and visited other schools. In the spring of my junior year, my dad and I travelled to the little mountain town of Dahlonega, somewhere I had been only once before on a fifth-grade field trip to learn about Georgia's gold mining history. There, I discovered UNG. The campus was beautiful, the tuition was low and the academics were praised. I fell in love with the town and the people right then and there. Then, I found out I would be able to be in the honors program, which offers a long list of benefits (although the smaller class sizes and the early registration were what got me), and I was completely sold.

I decided to throw away the dream that I had been working towards for so long, and I have no regrets. There seems to be an assumption that if you don't go to UGA, it's because you can't get in, but this wasn't true for me. I chose UNG, and I am in my second semester and I could not be happier with my decision.

At UNG, I feel like I matter. I feel like the staff genuinely cares about me and doesn't just treat me like a source of revenue, something bigger schools can't offer. My professors know my name. My campus isn't overwhelmingly large and I get a view of the mountains evert single day. I don't have to party to be part of the campus culture. This college is where I belong, and I found my home here. I'm not sure why UNG is so largely forgotten about, but I'm confident that this will change as more and more people realize how great it is. I will always be proud to say that UNG was, and forever will be, my first choice.