Dear Ambitious High School Senior,

I know it is probably stressful right now trying to decide where exactly you want your home to be for the next four years, so I wanted to give you some advice to help you decide.

For starters, do not just pick a school to go to that all of your friends are planning to attend. College is the time to branch out and find yourself. It is the time to find your support system, make mistakes, and grow up-- and you can’t do that if you are still following around your high school friends. I know it is super hard to say goodbye to your best friends, but when you get to college, you will find that support system of people that genuinely care about you—whether they are in a sorority, or your hallmates, or even your roommates. There is no doubt that you will find people that will help guide you along the right path.

Secondly, do not let others decide what you are going to do with your life. It can be tough to decide what you want to do with your life when you want to go to school for one thing, but your parents want you to go to school for a different thing. You need to find your voice and your passion and go to school for yourself. Don’t go be a psychology major just because your mom and grandma and great-grandma were. Just be yourself. Choosing a college will be so much easier when you find that one thing that you are so passionate about and that you actually want to pursue.

Go visit a school before you completely rule it out. For me, I did not want to go to the school where I am now because it was an all women’s college, but I gave it a chance and took a tour and fell in love with Brenau. If I hadn’t gone on that tour, I honestly do not know where I would be right now. If you are interested in a school but you’re just not sure, go take a tour, or see if they have any overnight tours where you could stay in freshman dorms or in a sorority house. You need to get the feel for where you are going to be calling home. On the other hand, don’t say yes to a school just because you saw a really pretty picture of the campus. Get in contact with some students at the school and get the low down on what college life is really like there.

Lastly, go with your gut. If you take everything into consideration and you have that gut feeling that you belong at a certain school, go for it. You never know what God has planned for you at that school. For me, it was joining Phi Mu and becoming secretary, it was throwing a softball with my big and then becoming a walk on for the softball team, and it was home. His plans are bigger and better than your plans, so when you get that overwhelming feeling of, “This is where I belong,” do it. Go for it. Make this place your home because once you do, there is nothing in the world that can stop you.

I genuinely hope that you find your home and become the best you can be.

Sincerely,

The freshman that found her home and never looked back.