Senior year of high school can be overwhelming with everything being thrown at you within such a short period of time. Graduation obligations and fees, college applications, recommendation letters, and scholarship applications are just a few of the many things you have to deal with at this point in your life; however, out of all the decisions you have to make, picking the right college for you is one of the most important.

While some may choose a big SEC school, others choose to attend a community/junior college. I was one of those who chose the community college route first, and here's why.

As a high school senior, I really had no idea what career path I wanted to follow. It's a difficult decision to make at 17 years old and I went back and forth between several options for awhile. All I could ever do was rule out the things I definitely didn't want to do. I mean we just spent the past 12 years of our life in school, having to ask permission to do anything, and now we are told we have to decide what to do with the rest of our lives.

They say that the average college student will change their college major at least one time before they graduate, which could definitely set you back from graduating on time. However, at my community college, everyone I knew, even those with a completely different major, had almost the exact same degree plan as I did, give or take a few classes for nursing.

It's also no secret that college is expensive, and going off to a university was going to be hard to afford. There are tons of scholarships out there in the world, but loans were still necessary for me. However, with the community college route, I saved thousands of dollars for those first 2 years of classes. As a college freshman, you have to pay for the dorm and a meal plan, while attending a community college doesn't require that.

I also feel confident that I got a good idea of the college-student life at my community college. Those students who choose the SEC schools are attending classes with at least 50-60 people per class because of the school size. At a community college, the classes are just a little bigger than in high school, and it felt as if we were slowly being acclimated to what college classes would be like.

My biggest concern with attending a community college was the transfer process. I heard horror stories from friends and family about credits transferring properly and that was definitely not a problem I wanted to be stuck with. However, once I started taking classes, I was told about the STARS program. If you've never heard of it, it's an online guide that you use to be sure you are taking the classes you need, and that they'll transfer to the 4-year university of your choosing.

Following the STARS official guide, every single one of my credits transferred with no problems. I also worried about coming in as a college junior because the people my age have already been established at the university for 2 years. However, I didn't realize how easy it would be for me to connect with everyone, even though I don't live in that area yet.

I found Facebook pages specifically for my university, for housing and for transfers, that helped me get everything I needed to transfer and helped me find the best apartment complexes and roommate options. I even made a few friends this way!

There's nothing wrong with attending a community college first. Some people think others will look down on you for it and that's not the case. A community college is a great way to get your foot in the door of college and it really was a good fit for me.

Attending a community college was definitely not my first option, but I'm glad I did it. I spent so much time worrying about things that really didn't give me any trouble when it came to transferring to a university. As a senior, I was just ready to move to the next step in my life, in a new town, and meet new people, as I'm sure most 18-year-olds are.

Having said that, though, I think attending a community college first was the best choice for me. So if you also find yourself with the same worries and struggles as me, just remember that a community college is always an option for you too.