Growing up, I always wanted to attend the University of North Carolina. I wanted to go there so badly I hardly looked at other colleges until my junior year when it hit me that I may not get in. The thought of not getting in broke my heart but I knew that I needed to look elsewhere so that I had another option if I was rejected.

I toured several schools and liked almost all of them but in my mind UNC was the only place I wanted to go.

When I applied, I applied to six schools and they were all in-state. I already knew what my second choice would be in the event that I did not get in, but I was focused and doing everything I could to make sure my application was strong enough.

I thank myself often for not getting too caught up in the UNC application because if I had, I would not have been able to notice some of the other programs at other schools that were beneficial to me. I applied to most of the honors programs at every school and worked to make sure my essays for all the schools, not just UNC, were the best they could be.

UNC was the last decision I was waiting for. It came out on a Friday while I was still at school, but I knew that I did not want to check it in public.

I came home, and my family and I gathered in the kitchen while I tried to get in to see my decision. When It popped up on the screen I immediately broke down in tears. What I was most afraid of had come true. The rest of the weekend I tried to pull myself together, but I was crying on and off.

I knew that I was going to East Carolina University as soon as I found out that I did not get in to UNC. ECU checked all of my boxes on my wish list and I loved it when I toured. The following Monday I received mail from ECU that included my acceptance into their Honors College which sealed the deal on where I would be attending come that fall.

Looking back on it now, I can't imagine my life any differently.

I am in one of the best programs for my major, I found my best friends, met a guy, and joined a sorority full of sisters I love. None of that would have happened had I gone somewhere else. Sure, you might be thinking "well you probably would have done most of those things wherever you went to school;" which is true but, I now know that my college rejection letter was the best thing that happened to me because of how happy I am where I ended up.