Senior year of high school. So many possibilities. Such a bright future. So many opportunities and experiences yet to be had.
This was how I felt when I was visiting colleges, trying to make a decision on where the spend the next four years of my life.
During my junior and senior year of high school, I had toured nine different schools and applied to five of those. I was accepted to all five universities.
My application choices actually baffled me. There were schools in there that I never pictured myself going to.
During my senior year of high school, my mom and I took a week to tour colleges throughout Southern California. I had planned the whole week out according to their location.
It started with Life Pacific College. This college was on the corner of a block and I am not exaggerating when I say that that was the size of the campus. You could count on two hands the number of buildings on campus. It was a small college with a limited amount of majors and few opportunities. Despite that, the staff and students were extremely welcoming and the school had a very strong sense of community, seeing as though that was practically all they had.
Next on the list was Azusa Pacific University. I had friends from home and camps that went to APU, including friends from their High Sierra semester, since the location for that is in my hometown area and the students would attend my church every now and then. The university somewhat conducted itself like a business, which was interesting for me to experience right after a school that had one admissions counselor. APU has two parts to their campus with a shuttle that takes students back and forth between the campuses. There was a whole street full of places to eat. The school is large. There was something that I went to and found myself walking to my hostess' room by myself at one point, in which I prayed about attending the school and asked myself if I could see myself there for the next four years. The answer was no, mostly because it was too large for my small town heart. The school is not a bad school, it just was not for me.
The next school we went to was BIOLA University. I chose not to spend the night there because I thought that I would not like the school, but throughout the visit, I actually liked it a lot more than I expected. They gave me a free shirt just for visiting. I was able to connect with a friend from home who gave me a more detailed tour than I had earlier in the day. I ended up applying to BIOLA, thinking that it would be a place that I could thrive at.
That night, we drove down to Murrieta to visit Calvary Chapel Bible College. Again, I had a few friends from home and from camps who went to and were attending this school, including one of my best friends. This turned more into conversation with students at the school and a visit with my friend, as tours and visits were not really something the school did because they doubled as a retreat location. It was a relaxing day in the middle of college visits and information overload, but, just like APU, wasn't for me.
The next day, we drove all the way down to San Diego for me to visit Point Loma Nazarene University. Due to traffic, we missed the tour of the campus. We connected with a friend from home, since we were spending the night in her apartment. She gave us a simplified tour and we watched the beautiful sunset, as the university's campus is right on the beach. As beautiful as the campus is, it felt super cramped, which is something that I did not appreciate at all. Point Loma is a good school and their students love it, but it wasn't for me.
Last stop of the week was Westmont College. Located in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara, this was the most expensive school I considered. One of my older brothers attended Westmont, making the college high on my radar of consideration. The days that we were visiting just so happened to be a preview weekend and I was able to participate in every activity they had planned for the preview students. It was a good weekend full of information, interaction with other high school students who were looking at colleges and visiting with my older brother and his friends.
I was accepted to Life Pacific College, BIOLA University, Westmont College, Simpson University and CSU Fresno (also known as Fresno State). Financial aid packages from each school came, including any music scholarships, totally and completely ruling BIOLA out, with LPC and Fresno State being back-up plans of sorts. The decision was mainly between Westmont and Simpson.
As mentioned in a previous article, I had my heart totally set on Westmont. It is located in a beautiful area with so many opportunities. I gave it one more visit mid-February, this time for myself, instead of following my brother around. I went to events on my own with my own new friends and stayed with a hostess that I had never met before, allowing myself to experience the student life for myself and in a whole new light. I felt more of a spiritual life connection during that visit than I had at any college leading up to it and I decided that that was where I needed to be for the next four years of my life. I was excited to double major in Religious Studies and Sociology, wanting to make a major of ministry for myself that was not purely based on just culture or just theology.
BUT. God has a sense of humor. I'm sure we've all heard this before, but this was a time when I really saw it play out.
I got an extreme amount of financial aid from Simpson and although my heart was set on Westmont, my parents convinced me to visit Simpson one last time before signing any papers.
I got in the car for the six hour drive, convinced that Westmont was still where I was going to be and I was planning on comparing everything about the visit to Westmont.
Once I got onto the Simpson campus for the second time, everything changed. My parents and I visited a history class and had a meeting with the head of the history department. We met with the head of instrumental music. I spent the night with a friend from home and we met with an admissions counselor. We met with the head of the Cross-Cultural Studies department and I heard him talk about things that cross-cultural majors learn and what graduates have been doing in the realm of ministry. It brought such a passion in my heart for what is yet to come and gave me so much hope about my dream, that my decision was changed.
At Simpson, there was a strong feeling of being needed within the student community. I was told that I had a place within the student body and I was NEEDED. Rather than being told, "It would be so nice to have you here!" I heard things such as, "We need you here," and, "You have a place here." Being needed within a community is so important, especially for someone who had been looking their whole life for a solid Christian community.
Although there seemed to be community at the other schools, it was nothing compared to the urgency of Simpson University. They searched for more financial aid for me, called me to ask how I was doing, sent me a graduation card and prayer for me over the phone at the end of each call. If that's not a Christian community, then I don't know what is.
The school is small. It definitely is not everything you could want and more, but it's enough for me and that's what matters.
