My senior year of high school, I had it all planned out. I had known for some time that I wanted to attend pharmacy school so I made all of the appropriate preparations. I worked hard at school, I was active in my community, I filled out all of the applications and all of the scholarships. I had every last box on my list checked. The acceptance letters came and I had made my decision, I was going to the University of Findlay. I paid my acceptance fees and was even assigned a room mate. I was all ready to go, until about a few weeks after graduation.
I made the conscious decision that I couldn't personally justify the amount of loans I would total up paying for tuition and the cost of living on campus. So at first, I panicked. Then, once the panicking subsided, I made a new game plan. I enrolled at Columbus State and started down my new path.
It was sad at first, giving up what I thought was my dream school. I felt sad and ashamed when people would tell me they were sorry that things didn't work out. But then I found a job that I love and I started school and things started to feel like they were right. With the support of my loved ones, I succeeded, and I still followed my dreams, just not on the path I originally planned.
Looking back after over two years I couldn't be more grateful for how things turned out. I have a wonderful job and wonderful people in my life and I'm enrolled at the best college (Go Bucks!) and I'm still in pursuit of doing what I love. I couldn't have asked for more.
I didn't have the "typical college experience" but that's okay. College isn't just about partying and living the "campus life". There's nothing wrong with doing college your own way and following what you think is best. College is every bit of what you make of it and you can do that in any setting. At the end of the day, your own happiness is all that matters. Fulfillment doesn't come from checking boxes off of your college experience checklist, it comes from surrounding yourself with people that make you happy and doing what you love.