This time last year, I didn't think that I would be going to college.

I was a high school senior who never toured a college campus, hoping that maybe, just maybe, one of the three colleges I applied to would accept me. I didn't think I was smart enough; I was smart, sure, but not college smart. My test scores were good, but not as good as my friends. And when USC and Clemson started sending out acceptance letters, I got worried. But then, something magical happened. I got into college. Even more so, I was accepted into all three.

I was ecstatic! I could have my picture on the college wall with my school of choice, as per tradition in my high school. I could decorate a cute dorm room and post it all over my Instagram for my high school friends to look at in envy. I could even get away from the small town I'd always lived in, if only for just four years.

But then, the bills came and there were too many commas for my parents to swallow.

Two out-of-state schools did not match the amount I, and my parents, were willing to suffer through to get me through college. I paid no mind to the little college in-state I applied to; I just waited impatiently for financial aid letters and scholarship notifications, hoping somehow the numbers would add up.

That's when I got the letter from Francis Marion University, inviting me to their interview days for scholarships. So, I took a chance and ended up with a scholarship, and once the financial aid letter came in, I made a choice. I was going to college, and not just Trident Tech, but a four-year university.

I've come far from that girl, but to the girl that thinks she can't get into college, I've walked in your footsteps, and I want to tell you something.

I believe in you.

I support you.

You may think that a four-year university is out of your reach. It's not! You are just as capable as everyone else, and you can make it there. There are colleges out there that want you just as much as you want them, so don't let little things, or the voices in your head, stop you from pursuing your dream of going to college.

Vincent Van Gogh said, "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

Take a chance on that little school two hours away from home, or the school that helps you find the money so the numbers add up, and you can sit in your dorm room one year later and write an article to the girl who thinks she won't make it to college. The college of your dreams is not out of your reach, it's just not always what you imagined it to be.

Imagine this instead:

You get into, and can afford, a small college that is perfect for you. You get into the honors program. You get initiated into a sorority you've fallen in love with. You become a sophomore in your second semester, the semester you weren't sure you were going to make it to. You make best friends, friends that you see being in the rest of your life.

You are happier than you've ever been and forget that once upon a time, you found it hard to even get out of bed.

I never thought I would be here, with all these accomplishments behind me and many more waiting, but I am. You probably don't think you can be here either. But you can!

You never know what can happen unless you say yes.