When you apply to colleges in high school, you start to exist in a fantasy world — a world in which your top schools send you an acceptance letter because they want to give you a shot even though you didn’t meet their standards. It’s a world where you can afford to go to any school because your dream school decided to give a student who was barely accepted a full ride. And, even though you tell your friends that you’re just applying to see if you get in or that you’d be happy at any school you applied to, there’s a certain amount of dread that sets in when you commit to your last choice school. Maybe you chose it because of money, or maybe you couldn’t get in anywhere else. My choice was a little bit of both.

My senior year of high school, I applied to eight different schools. I had no idea what I wanted from my college experience, so I just picked a bunch of schools all located in the northern U.S. Except, of course, one.

I’m sure people will be surprised to find out that I did not want to come to the University of Alabama. I wanted to go to school in the North and move to New York or Chicago to work after graduation, but I applied to UA because my sister went there for their scholarships. I know so many people are at Alabama because it has been a dream of theirs since they were toddlers, but I hated my sister, the South, and the idea of a school so inflated with football money that they’d throw it at anything that might make them seem more impressive academically, including me. I visited my sister at school and said, “I am not going here next year.”

But, after four rejections and three letters without enough money in them, I chose the big, southern football school. And I was terrified. College was scary enough without going somewhere I knew I would hate, but I also knew that hating the place that would be my home for the next four years would just make everything worse. Instead, I tried to be open to trying some new things. As it would turn out, that was the key to making my experience better in my first year.

I tried things that I never thought would suit me: I joined a sorority and participated in student government. I succeeded in a lot of things and failed in a lot of others. I made a group of friends who thought I was amazing when I did either. I talked to people from across the country who are completely different from anyone I’d ever met. I started listening more than I spoke and caring about opinions that were different from mine, even if I didn’t agree. I chose a best friend and roommate who is pretty much my complete opposite. My freshman year, I got to be a totally different person than who I was in high school, and I think I became a better person in a lot of ways.

Now, I know I was insanely lucky to have a safety school that so many people love, and I know that sometimes, people just aren’t the right fit for the school they end up at. But if I learned anything this past year, it’s that college is about taking the time to create a new version of yourself.

So, to you, the student starting school at their last choice college, to the student who is ready to hate the next four years of your life, give it a chance. Maybe this school will accept you like an old friend, or maybe you’ll end up rolling with a few punches your first year. Whatever happenings, this is your time to grow and try things you always wanted to try or things you thought you’d never try. It’s not a time to judge or sulk because whether you’re at a community college or a big school hundreds of miles away from home, you have an opportunity to push yourself. Become the kind of person who can adapt to any situation they’re thrown in. Do things that make you uncomfortable, but act like you’ve been doing this your whole life. You’ll have moments of triumph and moments when you cry yourself to sleep, but you’ll finish your first year feeling like a new person. And I’m excited to start a new year and change even more.