With fall semester starting back up here soon, I started reflecting a lot on how my senior year of high school went. I didn't exactly come from the most college-oriented background. Most people after graduation at my high school went on straight to working minimum-wage jobs. College was simply never in the picture for a lot of people. Not a lot of teachers or school counselors were really able to give me much advice on how to save for college or how to apply either.
Looking back now, there is so much I wish I would've known about college in general, because I felt completely lost because it was a path so few were focused on where I was from.
There was one thing I did know though: I wanted to get away. I had lived in the exact same area my entire life. There was a really good state school about 15 minutes away from where I lived (Ohio State University) but it was a rather large school, and it was too close to home. I scheduled a college visit but remained skeptical. However, after my visit to OSU, I then visited Miami University, knowing virtually nothing about it. Miami is a smaller college in the middle of nowhere, and I instantly fell in love with it. The people were different, but I didn't mind. it seemed to be the place where everybody knew everyone, and so I thought it would be the easiest place for me to make friends. Plus, I knew how academically prosperous it is (its medical school acceptance rate is 25% above the national average). And it was two hours away from home, the perfect distance. So I decided to give it a shot.
Flash forward to August 2016, the beginning of my very first semester at Miami, and the very harsh culture shock that came. Because I knew so little about financial aid, I came to the realization during the summer that I had very little money to pay for Miami's tuition. Thus, I worked full time during the summer, and full time halfway through my first semester. Because I was working so much, I hardly made any friends and had no time to study. I'll just let you imagine the panic and frustration that I experienced.
Despite a somewhat negative first semester, I found that the professors cared so much about me, and each and every one of their students. My biology teachers, in particular, were willing to work with me for hours to help build up my study skills. They knew I had little time to study, and again, I didn't come from the most college-oriented high school. I was simply behind, and it was frustrating for both the professors and myself. Yet we worked through it, and now I'm doing just as well as some of the top students within my major. These professors not only took the time to actively engage with me and create good relationships with most of their students, they also actively encouraged me to work on my health. Some of the professors I had knew me well enough to the point where they understood how stressed out and anxious school could make me, and they actively tried to help me work around it. They also helped me find financial resources that eased some of the money issues I was having.
Miami is also a place where everybody knows everyone. Even though I had little time to make friends at first, once I figured out financial aid and my money situation, I had more time to meet and interact with people. Once I got over the initial culture shock of being around students from wealthier backgrounds, I started making some of the best friends of my entire life. These were friends that understood how much I cared about school. They understood my passion for Biology and medicine because, for the most part, their infatuation with the subject was about the same. I finally found friends that would let me in on their Friday night plans. I found friends that would sit with me at midnight after a rough week and let me vent out my frustrations. I found friends that cared about my dreams and aspirations and that wanted to help me work through any issue I was having.
Mentally, financially and academically, Miami ended up being the perfect college for me because of all the people (professors, friends and staff) that were willing to help me at my lowest. I firmly believe that everybody can find a college that is perfect for them. I will be honest, for me, it was mostly luck of the draw. I didn't know what I was doing when it came to looking for colleges. Nor was I college ready. I wasn't college ready at all, not even in the slightest. Yet Miami ended up being the place that saved me because of its willingness to make me their priority.
Miami, thank you.
