My junior year of high school, I went with two of my friends to my very first A&M football game. I'm not even a huge football person but I remember having so much fun. I loved the atmosphere, the school spirit, the traditions. I could see myself there, going to games all the time. I went home with two A&M t-shirts and joked with my parents about whether or not they would kick me out for going to A&M (they went to UT).
I also considered UT. Though there was no expectation for me to go there just because my parents did, I liked the idea of following in their footsteps and Austin is one of my very favorite places.
That next summer I began my college visits and I toured SFA with my mom. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. But I loved the trees and the beautiful campus and the idea of a small school was appealing to me. Even though the nursing school was closed for the summer, someone working in the admin building gave us a personal tour and I thought it was all amazing.
My senior year, I was thrilled to begin receiving acceptance letters. I was accepted into SFA, UT, and A&M. But I had barely even decided that I was going to major in nursing- I was nowhere near ready to commit to a college for the next four years.
It was a difficult choice for me to make because even though I liked the idea of SFA, most of my friends were going to A&M. A lot of people were going to UT. No one I knew was going to SFA. I'm not an outgoing person by any means so the thought of knowing no one and having to make new friends was terrifying.
I'm so glad I did it.
I have made some of the best friendships of my life at SFA. And being forced to make new friends and meet new people has been so good for me and my confidence. I met one of my roommates at freshman orientation. One of my very best friends now was some random girl that I sat next to in computer science on the first day of class freshman year because I was alone and she was alone and she looked nice-ish and also slightly terrified like I was. My freshman year roommate was some other random girl I didn't know but she turned out to be the best roommate I could ask for and through her, I met even more people. All of a sudden I had friends at SFA. Every semester I make more. Nursing school has helped me to meet all kinds of new people and form even more friendships. The people here are truly amazing.
Schools like SFA also have the benefit of a smaller campus. I could get across the entire campus in about 10 minutes, walking, if I needed to. The library and the student center, along with almost all of the class buildings are together in the center of campus, meaning you can get from class to class in basically no time. Most of the classes are also pretty small. I think my biggest class, even including my basics, had less than 200 people. It makes it pretty easy for the professor to know you, even if you aren't all that great at going to office hours.
Also smaller schools are conveniently less expensive than bigger schools AND easier to get scholarships. I got two scholarships from SFA and together they about cover my entire cost of tuition and my apartment. I am so thankful for those scholarships because it relieves the financial burden off of me and my parents. There's no way I would've gotten financial support like that at a bigger school.
Because Nacogdoches is a small town, it's a little quirky (in a mostly good way). There are some not so great things- a lot of restaurants close at like 7 pm and there sometimes seems like there's nothing to do. BUT, I love Nacogdoches, quirks and all. We have some delicious local restaurants, a precious downtown, a farmer's market, a country dance hall where all kinds of Texas country artists come play, a zip line course, and even fairs, rodeos and festivals (like the Blueberry Festival every summer)!
The football games aren't quite as big of a deal as they are at A&M and UT but at least it's free for all SFA students to go! My student ID gets me in basically everywhere for free. And we do have a couple of fun football traditions that are pretty unique (look up Chief Caddo if you don't know what I'm talking about!). Especially with the amazing SFA marching band, it's always a good time. Our basketball team is really good, which makes those games really fun as well.
Basically, you don't have to go to a big school to have the "college experience". Sure sometimes I have to explain to people where the heck SFA even is (hint: it's not in Austin), but I am receiving an excellent education, meeting all kinds of new people, experiencing new things, and having so much fun.
Three years in and I have no regrets about choosing SFA. It was definitely the right choice for me. I'm not bashing A&M and UT or any other big school for that matter; I strongly considered them both as options and I know that if I had chosen one of them, I would've loved it there too. But that's not the experience I chose. I'm happy to be here in little ol' Nacogdoches and I sure will miss it once I graduate.
