It's already the middle of January and you have no idea where you are going to college. And that is totally normal and okay. The worst part about the college application process is waiting to hear back. I know it is hard to stay positive in this situation but all you can do is wait and hope for only the best. Rather than freaking yourself out, keep in mind that you are going to succeed in life regardless of where you go to college.

I cannot stress enough that you will end up exactly where you are meant to be.

I remember this time last year I went into complete panic mode. All of my friends had heard back from their top choices and I was either deferred or still waiting to hear back. I had been accepted to other colleges but none that I was seriously considering. My parents kept telling me not to worry but, for some reason, I truly believed I wasn't going to get into any of my top choices. I had three top choices. The University of Michigan, the University of Florida, and the University of Texas at Austin. I was deferred from Michigan and still waiting to hear back from the other two. I would check the portal at least five times a day to see if they released any new information. Keep in mind I knew when two out of three of these schools would be released. Yet, I continued to check and hope that more admissions letters would be released early. It became my new obsession and part of my daily routine.

Oh, and how could I forget. I ended up hearing back from all of these schools in a span of about ten days. Ten days. Those ten days were some of the best and worst days of my life. The first day started off with a rejection letter from the University of Texas. At that moment, I thought the world was going to end. I remember bursting into tears and yelling at my mom that I was not good enough. I felt as if all of my hard work was not enough. I felt as if I had failed myself. After recovering from my first college rejection, I tried to remain hopeful about Michigan and Florida. The next day I checked the Michigan portal during one of my classes. I was not expecting any updates but rather just continuing my daily routine of obsessing over colleges. I quickly realized that Michigan released a new admissions letter. After the previous night's rejection, I made my mom drive to school in case I had another mental breakdown over a rejection. I remember squeezing her hand while reading the letter. We both burst into tears as I scream the word "ACCEPTED."

I went from crying over a rejection to crying over an acceptance. A few days later, I found out that I was also accepted to the University of Florida. But that's irrelevant to the story. The point of this story is "go blue" always. Kidding...kind of. But on a serious note, my point is that everything will work out in the end. You are going to end up at the right school. With that being said, try not to beat yourself up over a rejection. Even if you get rejected from a few places, you will still get that acceptance that you've been waiting for. The acceptance may be to a school you never really considered and that is totally fine. You are going to end up exactly where you are meant to be. If I would have gotten into Texas, who knows if I would have ended up at Michigan. Everything happens for a reason. Trust the system.