I go to a small liberal arts college in southern Minnesota.

There are less than 2,500 undergraduate students currently enrolled, 99 percent living on the 340 acres (half of a square mile) campus.

Since its founding 154 years ago, my school has graduated many accomplished individuals specializing in a wide variety of studies. Sure, my school is ranked top 100 for its academics and top 10 for its outstanding food (priorities, right?), but that doesn't mean anyone has ever heard of it. And quite frankly, I couldn't care less.

The values that my school upholds and the quality of the education I'm receiving far outweighs the frustration I've experienced when responding to the question "what school do you go to?" only to be met with "that's a funny name", "where is that?" or "never heard of it". Now, when I'm almost anywhere in Minnesota or even the Midwest, people are almost always familiar with my school. But when I was abroad and most other students weren't from my area they were much less likely to have heard the name.

Another interesting thing to note at my small school is the fact that it's on a residential campus, meaning that the vast majority of students live in college-owned buildings. As a junior, I will be sharing a bathroom with the floor in my dorm and eating in the sole campus cafeteria. I've never had to pay rent or sign a lease. This varies greatly from my friends attending large universities and even other private schools where living off campus is a norm for most sophomores. There's definitely ups and downs to this style of living. For example, I'll never have to clean a bathroom or cook my own food. Plus, the food on my campus is outstanding. There's a multitude of healthy options for me to choose from and the offerings vary daily. On the downside, I'm not learning how leases work or how to budget. I'm also refined to campus rules and regulations (read: quiet hours, no wall hangings, no candles, etc).

I'm also a member of a local sorority at my school. For those that aren't familiar with a Greek organization being "local," this simply means that the sisterhood was started at my school and has never expanded. We've never had more than 50 girls in the sorority at a time, allowing everyone to truly know one another. When I wear my letters while traveling or when I tell other girls involved in Greek life at their respective schools which organization I'm a part of it can often be challenging to explain that my group is not nationally recognized. This is not to say that I don't appreciate my sorority, in fact, I think it's amazing that it's been around since 1904 and was the very first Greek organization established at our then-even-tinier college.

Regardless of how well known my school is or how well we have been nationally recognized for our (D3) sports I'll proudly wear my school colors, sorority letters, and team spirit jersey for years to come, go Gusties!