All I knew about college was that I wanted to go out of state. I wanted to be on my own away from home, away from all things high school and start with new friends in a new city. I'd been to France, England, and Germany all on my own; and moved regularly while growing up. So, I expect it was no surprise to my parents when I told them I wanted to go to college out of state. At that time, I honestly didn't know much more about what I wanted out of my college experience or even what I wanted to become. The next four years would bring me the most unexpected and valuable learning experiences of my life.
My Dad and I had decided on Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee by the end of my junior year in High School. I liked the college very much. It had all the qualities I was looking for. Classroom sizes were small (the college itself wasn't more than 4,000 students), it seemed friendly, and I loved the look and feel of the Old English Architecture. It felt like it had been uprooted from 16th century England and plopped in the middle of Memphis. So, I applied for early admission and had gotten accepted. My grades were only slightly above average, but I had drive, many extracurricular activities that I had excelled in, and a killer essay. So I was packing my bags, leaving high school gladly behind, and heading to Memphis.
It's weird how most things in life don't turn out quite like you expect them to. This was no exception. At the beginning, I was glad to be at Rhodes College. When my parents dropped me off and left back home I was giddy and celebrating my new found freedom. I liked my roommate Anne, from New York and I quickly made other friends. I also plunged myself into extracurricular activities such as Student Round Table. No problem, right? Well, after a few months I really started to get more of a feel for the college and I wasn't sure it really was right for me after all. Rhodes College was great academically and I did make good friends, but the social scene revolved mainly around Greek life and Greek parties. And, without a car, there wasn't much I could do about that except not have much of a social life. So, I went to a few parties and on a couple of dates, but I didn't drink and I was never planning on joining a sorority. I found myself oddly enough unhappy and debating transferring to a different college with a better fit. I decided that I needed a college where the social scene was not centered around Greek life and where there were more people with my same beliefs and values that I could connect better with. So I applied to Rick's College in Rexburg, Idaho.
It's now called BYU-Idaho, but back then it was Rick's College. Nevertheless, I arrived as a sophomore transfer and loved it right away. I loved the beautiful campus, the good classes, and I definitely like the social scene a lot more. This was a religious-based college and I knew most everyone had the same values as I did. That made me feel a lot more comfortable while I searched for who I really was and what I really wanted to do in life. I soon discovered I love to write. I mean, I already knew I loved to write as I was the editor-in-chief of my high school literary magazine. But I discovered I really, really thought this was the right career path. I was enjoying being a part of the school paper and I really liked my advisors. However, at the time, Rick's College was only a two year school and that meant I needed to transfer, again.
So, in looking for a new college in which to continue my journalism major and graduate from, I started to look at what I had liked and not liked about my previous colleges. I loved the diversity of Rhodes college student body, but not the Greek life. I loved the strong values of Rick's College, but they seemed a little too strict for me. So I started to look for a new school that had a strong diversity of students, had the values I was looking for, but didn't have a million rules and had a good journalism department.
I decided on Utah State University. Although my Father was convinced I should go to BYU, I knew better. So, when I didn't get into BYU I was actually relieved. And what do you know, I got into USU. I had never even been to the campus before the day I arrived for my junior year, but my gut told me this was definitely the place for me.
Over the next couple of years I went on to get a scholarship from the journalism department, got on the honor roll, met life-long friends, and fell in love with the beautiful area. That same junior year I also met the man of my dreams, and got married the following summer. I graduated on time and continued to support my husband as he pursued his doctorate.
Now, six years after graduating from USU, I look back at all the colleges I went through and the long journey it took to get here. Choosing a college isn't always cut and dry, but neither are our desires in life. What we may think in high school rarely carries through our entire life, and the experiences of college only remotely center on the classroom. My experience was varied and unexpected, but all I can say is - I wouldn't change a thing.
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