December 24, 2016, I am working a shift at my job. I started at 7 a.m., which means that I had to wake up at 6 am. I showered and have a full cup of coffee in me.

To travel back in time, I applied to the University of Delaware around October 15, 2016. The University of Delaware was my dream school and the moment I toured it October 4 of that same year, I knew I was supposed to go there. When I toured the campus, I had this overwhelming feeling of this is my school and that I fit and belonged there. It was the first time I have ever had that feeling.

Towards late-November, early December people from my grade start to hear back from Delaware saying that they got in. This made me fearful because I felt like the longer, I wait, the greater the chances of me getting rejected from Delaware. (The University of Delaware does rolling admissions).

In the month of December, I start hearing back from schools that were towards the top of my list and that if I got rejected from Delaware I would consider going too. With hearing back from these schools and hearing no word from UD, I sent an email to someone in admissions reiterating that UD was my number one college. I was willing to do almost anything to get into this school because of how much I loved it.

11 days later, it's now Christmas Eve. I am at work, and I go on my lunch break. On my lunch break, I always did 3 things, I checked Snapchat, text messages, and my email. One thing that I usually didn't do was check the admissions portal for UD.

However, something in my gut made me want to check that portal. I logged in, and I saw confetti. I never saw the confetti the countless times I logged in before checking to see my admission status, so I took it as a good sign. Then the first words I read were "Dear Kathryn"

I continued to read the email and it said, "it is my pleasure to offer you admission to our class of 2021." I screamed and started texting everyone I know as I had just gotten into my dream school. Yeah, I found out that I got into my dream school on Christmas Eve.

Finding out that your number one school on Christmas Eve is surreal in itself. Finding out that you got into a where you first felt a sense of belonging is even more of a dream come true. At first, I didn't believe it, and I had to read over the page like 5 times. The best part was that I got to celebrate this event with my entire family afterward as we were all going to see each other at my cousin's house for the holiday.

Getting into UD will always be my favorite Christmas present. There was a period of time where I thought that I would get rejected because of how competitive getting into college is now. I thought that my luck had run out. Thankfully, it didn't, and I found that out on the best day possible. Now I go to the greatest school ever and for that, I am forever grateful.