The college experience. What is it? Is it the same for everyone? Is it always fun? Is Freshman Friday the reality of every first-year student? Do four years of undergrad mean four years? Do grades always matter? Does going to college mean you can party every day? Does it mean pulling your hair out in the library during midterm and finals week? Will dorm life happen? Are you going to make some of the best of friends here?

Well, guess what, like the thousands of high school seniors, I had countless questions, similar to those listed above, in mind before entering college. I, like thousands, had dreams of the college dream. The first being able to attend a university with a fantastic campus, to live in a dorm, a degree that would set my future, friends that would become the friends of a lifetime, and probably thousands of dollars in debt.

Here we are four years later.

Unfortunately, this was the reality that I had dreamed up, up until three weeks before the 1st semester of my freshman year of college. Things took a twist that would land me in a city university, a commuter school, and with a reality that I was not expecting.

I had to withdraw my seat at my dream school and attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice; where I am pursuing a dual degree and a minor. Though I am an average student and am graduating in 4 and a half years, the “friends” I made have now become acquaintances, and I am not a party goer and yes I do pull my hair out during midterm and exam week. The freshman Friday myth is still a myth, and I am currently a commuter who still lives at home.

Unfortunately, many don’t get to face the ideal college experience because of the school we attend, or because our circumstances push us to experience college differently. However, if there is anything I have learned, ir is that everything happens for a reason.

Do I have any regrets about the experience I have had while in college? No. In fact, I appreciate what the experience has taught me. I have learned to adapt to unexpected circumstances, I have actually, over time, fallen in love with the school and have the ability to experience the workforce that I will enter.

I have learned from the people around me. I have appreciated that I will graduate without debt. Also, I have done more with my time as an undergrad. Though I am staying in school an extra semester, I have pushed myself to do more than what is expected of me.

I find that not all people will face college the same way. We are forced to dream up the ideal situations as kids, but often as we develop into our own people, we will grow to experience things a bit differently.

So what is, in reality, the ideal college experience? The one that we hope to achieve or the one that allows us to grow as individuals? I have found that the city university probably has taught me more than I would have learned and allowed me to make mistakes along the way than maybe I would have at my dreamt-up school.