Dear High School Seniors,

When you step onto our campus you'll be greeted with a girl in a crimson dress and pearls. She'll be grinning from ear to ear, screaming roll tide and will be so excited to show you and the rest of your group around the campus. You'll get to see the sprawling quad, Denny Chimes, hear the story about the President's Mansion and you'll learn all about the history of the school. The crimson-clad girl will spew off all sorts of facts about graduation rates, retention rates, ACT scores, National Merit Scholars and all of them will make the school more attractive to you (and your parents). You'll learn about our great football traditions, hear about Greek Life and homecoming and all the fun things that every high school senior can't wait to participate in college. A few months later, when you commit to the school, and adults ask you, "Why Bama?" you'll beam and tell them about the greek life, the football, the beautiful campus and the phenomenal academics. A year later though, when you're home for your first summer after college, you'll be asked the same question, and your answer might surprise you. Though the beauty of the blooming quad will never fade away, and the tradition of our football and Greek Life will always be rich, the reasons why you stay probably won't be the same reasons you came. There are some things that just can't be captured on an hour-long tour of the campus, moments that can't be written into a script and read off by a dazzling Capstone Woman. The essence of your college experience won't be found in the statistics. Dear high school seniors, here's what we can't show you on your college tour:

1. When the weather is starting to cool down, the football game is out-of-town that weekend

Not every football game is in T-Town (unfortunately). And while lots of students travel to the away games, a lot of us hang back and enjoy the emptiness that is Tuscaloosa on an away weekend. You and your friend group will just watch the game on TV, cheering on the Tide and eating Moe's queso together.

2. When you go into town with your best friend in search of a theme party costume

Whether it's a swap, a date party, a house party, Halloweekend, or something else, everyone in Tuscaloosa is always on the hunt for the perfect outfit. A few days before your first big theme party, you'll probably take a chance on a girl you barely know and decide to go shopping with her. You'll end up spending hours with her driving around to different stores, trying on the craziest things and spending too much money.

3. Hanging out in the common room with the other girls on your floor

A bunch of girls will be studying and working on homework in the common room, one girl will suggest ordering pizza, and suddenly the entire floor has abandoned their work to get in on the Dominoes order and Cards Against Humanity game.

4. Impromptu vent sessions and/or dance parties with your best friends

You were supposed to be studying, but instead, you're both laying on the carpet in your dorm talking about anything and everything but studying. Sometimes it's good to just have an hour with your friends to ignore responsibilities.

5. Hanging on the quad

When the weather gets warm and Spring finals are coming up it seems like everyone from campus hangs out on the quad. Sometimes you'll actually study, but more often than not you'll play frisbee, rent a puppy during happy hour, or just sit and play music and soak up the Alabama sun.

At the end of your freshman year when you're getting sad to leave T-Town for 3 months, you'll start to reflect on your year and all the amazing times you had over the past two semesters. At the end of the day, it's the little things that will make your first year at the Capstone incredible.