As you approach your senior year of high school, people start asking you where you are looking at to attend college. I remember being a senior in high school and being so sick of people asking me where I was going next year. The fact is most adults don't understand the process of getting into college. It can be a long, slow and grueling process. The college application process is so different for everyone as well. Some people know where they are going by September, others December, most by April, but if you're like me, you didn't have your final decision until July.
Getting into your dream college is difficult, you have to do good in school, be super involved in your community and you have to do well on your standardized testing. Basically, you have to be Hermoine Granger and then some (I mean maybe minus the whole witch thing.) I myself excelled in school, was very involved, and tested well. Most people don't realize that even this sometimes isn't enough. I was waitlisted at two schools (New York University and University of Wisconsin-Madison) and accepted at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I was around the 75th percentile at Madison and still was put on the waitlist.
The thing is that you can do as much as humanly possible and still not make it into your dream school and that's alright. Sometimes you have to be told that you aren't "good enough" to reach where you want to end up. If I had ended up going to Madison or New York University, I would have missed out on so many great opportunities. I wouldn't have met the people I met today, and I wouldn't have been as happy as I am today.
The number one thing to remember when applying to colleges or when you find out whether or not you got into your dream college is that regardless of where you end up, you are still the same person. You will be successful wherever you go. You may think that one of those schools is the school for you, but I'm here to tell you that you won't actually know until you're there living it. I know numerous people who thought they would love it at a certain college and transferred a semester or two later because they hated it.
It really doesn't matter where you attend to be completely honest. Whether it is a state school or Harvard, all that matters is that you complete that degree. If worst does come to worst, and you decide that you hate the school that you decided to go to or were forced to attend, then you can transfer. It sounds scary, but it isn't.
As you head off to college remember to keep an open mind. You may just be surprised at how much you actually will end up loving your college. It's okay to be upset that you didn't get in, but remember at the end of the day it is just a school.
