I remember the insanity of the college search like it was yesterday. From the application process, to letters of recommendation, to acceptance letters, scholarship offers and school visits. It was overwhelming at times to try to fathom an idea of the future. Throughout my senior year of high school, I watched friend after friend commit to their dream university. The deadline inched closer and closer, and I was torn between two schools. Leading up to senior year, everyone had always told me that I would get a unique, magical feeling while touring, and would immediately recognize which college was the best fit. For me, this was not the case. In fact, I felt comfortable at two polar opposite universities. Trying to compare the University of Pittsburgh, located in the heart of the city with almost 35,000 students to Seton Hill University, a liberal arts school in Greensburg with approximately 2,500 students was like trying to decide whether to travel to the North Pole or the Caribbean. My friends used to tease me about my inability to make the decision, and asked me just about every day in April where in the world I was going for school. I had pushed off the official decision so much that one of my friends suggested that I let my dogs decide. For a myriad of reasons, I finally chose SHU just a week before the May 1st deadline. If I could go back and make the decision again, I would absolutely select the same choice. SHU is exactly where I am supposed to be, and has proven to offer more than I could have ever dreamed of or hoped for.
I remember the first week of college so clearly. We moved in towards the end of August, and everything was so foreign. I hardly knew a soul, and could only imagine being able to navigate the hallways without becoming hopelessly and utterly lost. In the beginning, it felt like I was at summer camp. My room was full of my own belongings, but did not feel like home. There were hardly any familiar faces, but I encountered the strange phenomenon of meeting people with similar looks, traits or voices of my friends back home. Throughout the entire first month of school, nothing seemed real or permanent.
As I look back at the year now, with the end of the semester careening full speed ahead, so many changes have ensued. I don’t know if change is a strong enough word to encompass the development in only one year. It is more like an evolution, a transformation, a journey towards the sense of self. I remember the first time I called my dorm room “home” without thinking. The same Seton Hill campus that seemed so foreign only a few months ago is now more familiar than my old high school. I remember sitting in my first college Spanish class, having my head spin from a mixture of excitement and the fast pace of the language. Now, it is like the professors are speaking English. The roommates that I had never met before move-in day morphed into friends, and the friends have transformed into family.
To all the high school students about to graduate: bon voyage! It will be a journey, but attack it with an open mind and positive attitude. In a year’s time, you too will look back and reflect on how drastically different life will be. Opportunities will come your way, challenges will present themselves and academically you will be pushed out of your comfort zone. But what sense of adventure would you have found in the comfort zone anyway? And to all current college students: keep up the good work my friends! The finish line is near.
