On December 11th of last year, I twisted my ankle sprinting home from the bus. I'm not much of a runner. Netflix marathoning is my sport of choice. So, you may be wondering why I was exerting myself in the first place. It wasn't particularly frosty, and I certainly wasn't overly pumped to begin my mound of English homework. The root of my jog stemmed from decision emails released from my top choice school. I wasn't nervous, though. The school was a perfect fit for me, I had a kickass interview, and my resume was stellar. I was halfway through writing my overeager "Class of 2019!!!!" post when it dawned on me that I should probably check my email before releasing the news. What I saw would throw me into a spiral of hysterical hiccups and frantic emails.
The next morning, I deposited at my safety school. I was peeved. Not because my safety school was bad. In fact, my safety school turned out to be the best place I could hope to be at, but we'll get to that later. I ripped up my shirt from my top choice school, and begrudgingly edited my overeager post to read "Wheelock College Class of 2019", with a sprinkle of emojis and a dash of seventeen exclamation points. However, I didn't feel like seventeen exclamation points. On the contrary, I felt like thirteen question marks and quite the handful of upset emojis.
My tizzy fit, filled with angsty, 2006 era Panic! at the Disco and glaring at whoever dared to smile at me, lasted a few days. Then, I decided to be proactive, and message some friendly looking people from the Class of 2019 Facebook page. I talked to some of my closest friends, prospective students that I'm so thankful I met. I bought out the entire campus store's stock of t-shirts and beanies, and covered my Wheelock water bottle with Wheelock stickers. Even after immersing myself in everything Wheelock, though, my heart still stung.
I arrived on campus in the fall, and got sucked into the whirlwind of Jumpstart, where I met even more of my closest friends. The Americorps life is a grand one, my friends. And although it wasn't my top choice, it quickly turned into my second home. The people here are my favorite people in the entire world. The classes here are the some most compelling bits of education I've ever received. And today, I got accepted to all of the student leadership positions I applied for.
This isn't just about my success, though. While Wheelock is perfect for me and I'm so blessed I ended up here, there was a bigger lesson involved in this whole fiasco that was really difficult for me to swallow. Not getting into your dream school shakes up your world, but I promise you it'll work out. If you have to go to your safety school, it could turn out to be your second home. You'll meet glorious people, join some exciting clubs, and have the time of your life no matter where you end up. It'll all end up a-okay, and some day, you too may be as thankful as I am for where you end up.
