As I write this, I am sitting at a coffee shop on campus observing everyone around me: some studying, one girl tutoring another girl at a table; most like me, sitting with their headphones in and on their laptops. There are some professors talking in a group, there is a girl literally sleeping by the fireplace, there is even a couple arguing behind me on the couches. This is just another day at my university and I'll tell you what, I would not trade it for the world.
If you are just choosing where you are going to go to college, if you are in the middle of your college education or if you are graduating and choosing a graduate school, you should be absolutely in love with where you go to school.
Hypocritical, I know. I transferred after my freshman year because I was home sick, so let me tell you first hand, if you go out of state to get the college experience you should make yourself stay because you won't regret all of the friends and families you meet while you are away and you will get to make your own life for 4-5 years. But if you know that you will get homesick and you don't like the sound of not being able to go home on the weekend if that is what you please, you should not kid yourself, you should stay close to home and choose a school that fits you best. Although I recommend leaving your hometown and getting that experience, your school should make you a better person, it should be both fun and challenging, and you should meet amazing people and you should be forced to work with people you do not know. But at the end of the day, you should be head over heels happy, prideful and energetic about getting your degree from the school you choose. College really is the best times of your life, and you have an opportunity to choose your own path and make your own way.
I encourage everyone to apply to as many schools as they can, tour every campus you are thinking about, and allow yourself to try each potential home without thinking about being homesick or anything else. If the college you choose is right for you, none of that will matter. If you put yourself out there, you will meet amazing people, get involved in amazing campus groups and study your tail off for a career you can't imagine your life without. Home will always be there, but you have 4-5 short years to make the best life you can imagine.
This is the part where I am supposed to tell you not to be scared, and that it will be fun. But the truth is, it is scary at times because your life is changing completely, and I wish I could tell you that the perfect school and perfect friends will fall right into your lap but that is not all true. You may think you have it right, and then an opportunity will come along that will change your mind. It is scary and it is always changing, but you are smarter and stronger than you give yourself credit for and you will realize that. Cheers to the better years! :)
