The college process has been daunting and tiring and I'm glad I finally have a schedule made, even if it isn't to my top pick school. Or my second. Or even on my list to begin with.
Anybody that knows me knows that while I am an Ole Miss fan, Ole Miss was never my top pick. My dream was to go to MTSU. Maybe it was because I knew that if I failed that I had a safety net or maybe it was because to me it felt like going home. I don't know and I might never know. But I do know that the out of state cost of tuition was through the roof and there was no way in hell that I was taking out loans to cover it all. So I settled for Ole Miss.
I had finished my FAFSA, and I was supposed to have enough federal and state aid to cover my tuition and room and board. While I never really wanted to go to Ole Miss, I was starting to get my ducks in a row and I was getting ready to uproot and move three hours away to the little college town and submerse myself into my school. I had a roommate and a dorm. All that I had left was to go to orientation and make my schedule.
Until my state aid didn't come through. I started freaking out and I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for school, because again, I would have to take out a large amount of loans. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. So I went across the street and enrolled in the community college. Within an hour I had a schedule and I knew that for at least a semester, I had it figured out.
The point is, the college enrollment process was a learning experience. I've always heard the saying that nothing is set in stone, and this whole drawn out process has proven exactly that. I went into my senior year of high school thinking I knew exactly what I was gonna do and where I was gonna go. And then that went down the drain. So I went into the second half of my senior year thinking I knew where I was gonna go. And then that went down the drain too. While going to community college has never been my first choice, it's not my worst choice. I always thought that I was a straight to university kind of person, but obviously there were different plans for me.
I'm not even upset at the situation anymore, because I know that it is out of my control. If it was a perfect world and money wasn't an problem, I would be at MTSU in the fall. But it's not a perfect world. If things had worked out the way that we had hoped, I would be at Ole Miss in the fall. But they didn't. So I am attending a school close to home, and it will not cost me a dime.
I'll be at a university in a year or two. Who knows? I might be at Ole Miss or MTSU in the end. After all, nothing is set in stone.