Senior year of high school is a whirlwind of feelings, the most intense one being that walk to the mailbox to check for college acceptance letters. The letter I wanted was from SUNY New Paltz, my top choice school at the time, but also a reach. Gaining acceptance from three out of four schools was incredible, and of course SUNY New Paltz had yet to inform me of their decision and it was the only one that truly mattered. When I got home from work on a cold, December night, the unopened letter sat on my kitchen counter. This one letter would determine where I went to college. I opened and read the dreaded words, “I regret to inform you…” I was upset for the night, but almost immediately, I made the decision to go to Bridgewater State University.
I really wanted to hate BSU so I could transfer to SUNY New Paltz later that year. However, within my first month of living there, I realized that this school was a good fit for me. I settled into a schedule, met and made an amazing group of friends, and loved most of my classes. The campus was so beautiful, especially with the fall foliage. The food, well, it wasn’t terrible, but it definitely was not my mom’s cooking. Walking to class one day, it clicked in my mind that everyone was there for one reason: to get a college education while trying to find themselves at the same time.
After completing my first two semesters, I can honestly say that I would not want to be anywhere else but Bridgewater State University. After a month of being home for the summer, I found myself constantly saying, “I want to go back to school.” I never would have thought it possible that I would utter those words about a second choice school. Douglas Adams wrote, “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be”. This quote could not be any more fitting to me. If I had made the choice to go elsewhere or to transfer, I would not have the opportunities, memories, and friendships that I do. In fact, I wouldn’t be writing this or have had this opportunity if I went to another college. I can’t picture my life without my friends, my sorority sisters, Crimson smoothies, the awful walk across campus to Hunt Hall, or the obnoxious amount of fire alarms during a blizzard. This is just year one of my college career, and I’m so excited to continue it.
So, if you didn’t get into your top choice school, don’t worry about it. Maybe it is meant to be that way. Wherever you go, make sure to make that place your second home. Make the most out of anything and everything, because you never know what could happen, whom you could meet, and what opportunities you could be offered.
