Picture this: It was December 15th, 2017, and I sat at my kitchen table awaiting a text from my best friend to see if she got into her dream school or not. at 5:04 pm, I got a text: She got in!!! There were congratulatory texts in all caps, emojis, and even confetti- This was her moment. I was so unbelievably proud of her and crazy excited for her to make New York City her own.
In mid-January, I was patiently awaiting my response from my top school, University of Maryland, when Fordham University emailed me and offered to wave the app fee if I applied to their school. At the time, I had absolutely no interest in Fordham U. In fact, the only reason I knew that the school existed was that my best friend had committed there a month back.
Jokingly, I sent a screenshot of the email to my best friend who had been accepted and wrote, "Your school wants me." Laughing, she dared me to apply. Since I had nothing to lose, I tossed in my common app and totally forgot about it.
So, fast forward a month: It was February, and the University of Maryland had accepted me: As you can imagine, I was on cloud 23947459, considering this had been my dream school for pretty much all of high school. Not to mention, my brother Tyler goes to UMD, so I knew that we would absolutely tear it up there together: Maryland had no idea what was about to hit it.
At the end of March, I got an email that I had been accepted into Fordham but didn't even think much of it. I was already pretty much committed to Maryland, so I almost deleted the email.
Anyways, it was 4 days before May first (Decision Day) where things started getting funky. My mom was asking me if there were any schools that I applied to that I hadn't yet visited. Fordham was the only one, so she encouraged me to go see it.
At the time, I remember thinking she was kidding. It was four days before May 1st, no way was I going to see another school when I already knew that Maryland is where I wanted to go. But, in an effort to please my mom, I agreed to go see the school 2 days later, just for kicks.
The first time I set foot on Fordham's campus, I knew that I messed up. I fell so in love with it that I instantly began questioning everything I'd ever known. Is Maryland really the right school for me? Did I really want to follow my brother to college? Am I adopted? Is the earth actually round?
Needless to say, It was a long day. I had 48 hours to decide where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life and I felt more confused than I ever had before. I stayed up all night, legitimately pacing the floor of my kitchen like a certified psychopath. I knew deep down that Fordham was a much better fit for me, but honestly, my main concern was: Do I really want to follow my best friend to college?
As you may have already guessed, I chose Fordham, and by default, chose to spend the next 4 years with my best friend. Either this was going to be a disaster, or it was going to be the best 4 years of my life.
LONG STORY SHORT, It was one of the best things I have ever done. I think the reason people are nervous to go to college with their friends it because they want to have a place that they can make completely their own, while not having a friend from home holding them back from making new friends, or totally calling them out on their lies they tell about high school (lol).
My favorite thing that people ask me is if I ever see my best friend on campus. Internally, I'm thinking, "dude, we practically share a fork most days" while externally saying, "Yeah, I see her a fair amount!" I really do think that balance is the ultimate key–of course, we don't spend every waking moment together, but I can't even describe how good it feels to have someone who knows your entire life only a 2 minute walk away.
I've gotta say, it makes college feel a lot more like home and makes it so much easier to get comfortable when you first start.
Of course, this isn't for everyone; It just happened to work out for me better than I could have ever imagined. My only suggestion? Don't go to the same school with that friend who is totally gonna call you out for not being MVP of the football team or prom king like you said you were in high school.
