I feel like I've reached the point in this blog where I tend to repeat a lot of things I've already mentioned in another post. I feel like my blog has become almost repetitious at this point so I don't blame you if you are growing bored with me.
I've been reading a book called Chicken Soup for the College Soul lately. It's a book I stumbled upon at some book sale or yard sale or something (I don't remember which) a few years ago. It's a book I picked up in the hopes that it would help me out being that I was a college student. I haven't read a whole lot of it since I bought it but with the way things have been going lately, I thought I'd try actually reading it this time.
Reading some of the first stories regarding college admissions got me thinking about my own college admission experience. Thinking back on it, I don't feel I've ever really had the traditional experience that many of these stories present.
I really wasn't the typical high school Junior/Senior researching all these colleges and visiting campuses. I wasn't even all that eager to apply for scholarships and in fact, I hated applying for scholarships. Especially when about a majority of the ones I applied for I didn't receive. I basically got frustrated applying. It just felt like I was doing all this work for nothing. It just didn't seem worth it to me. I know I needed the scholarships but it was such a hassle trying to get me to apply for them.
As for researching colleges, I did research a few. When I was really interested in Forensic Science, I stumbled upon St. Mary's in San Antonio and I was thinking about attending there for awhile. Yet I never actually visited the campus. I knew I wanted to go out-of-state because my brother had told me it was a good idea but I didn't exactly try that hard.
By the time I was a Senior, I had already begun taking college level courses on the hill; the community branch of NMSU. I guess I figured I would just stay at the community college a few years to get my basics out of the way before moving on because that's what happened.
Most of my classmates moved on to the main campus of New Mexico State University right after graduating and started classes there in the Fall as freshmen. Not me. I stayed in town for a couple years. I still wasn't sure where I wanted to go after those two years though. I didn't really want to end up on the main campus. My older brother had already told me how much trouble he and my sister-in-law had when they transferred there from the community branch. Some of the courses ended up not transferring despite the fact that the college was a branch campus of the main university.
It would have be easier for me to stay in state considering I had the Lottery Scholarship to help pay for college. It was really the one scholarship I knew I would receive being a New Mexican student. (I guess that's another reason I didn't really try so hard at applying for scholarships).
If I had stayed, things would certainly have been better for my parents financially considering I didn't even qualify for Financial Aid. However, there really wasn't anything for me in New Mexico.
When my cousin came for a visit and talked about programs that were available and that I might be interested in at Oklahoma State, I jumped at the chance to go there. My parents and I even went to visit the campus before I made my final decision. I applied for the school and was accepted fairly easily as a transfer student.
A similar case happened when I came here to Denton. The University of North Texas was suggested to me by my adviser and it was relatively close to my current location in Oklahoma. The application deadline was quickly approaching if I wanted to begin in the Fall (which I did). The other school I looked into ;The University of Arizona, while closer to family (my older brother), already had their fall admission deadline pass (it was in March). If I applied for that school, I wouldn't be starting until Spring 2011 and what if I hadn't been accepted? I applied for UNT and was accepted into the school, again, with no real problems.
I read these stories in the book and I think about how some students apply for a bunch of different colleges and then wait for their acceptance/rejection letters. I read how many students and their parents tour various college campuses during breaks during their Junior and Senior years. I never really had that. Sure I toured OSU and UNT but only because I was pretty sure I would be attending them. I never sat around waiting for an acceptance letter from a certain college. I applied for the community college and was accepted there easily but almost everyone is anyways. I had already taken a few classes there while a Senior in high school and had done well so it really wasn't that big of a deal for me to be accepted.
The only rejection letter I got was when I had applied for a Master's program at OSU. That was it. But I quickly found another school and was accepted into it.
My grades have always been good throughout my schooling. Mostly A's and B's and very rarely C's (mostly the really really difficult classes). Even now I still get really good grades. I guess this is one of the reason I've never really had trouble being accepted. I participated in a few clubs in high school and was in officer positions for a couple of them. I'm also a fairly decent writer and was able to come up with things for the admission essays. My test scores for the ACT and SAT while they weren't the best, they weren't the worst either. They were decent enough though. I just didn't do so great on those tests. At least not as good as what others expected me to get. Considering how intelligent I am, my guidance counselor expected me to do a lot better than I did. (Perhaps a little test anxiety got to me? Who knows?)
I never really went after the very competitive schools because I guess I never thought I was good enough. I guess I was realistic. While I was certainly smart, I knew I wasn't smart enough for any of the Ivy League schools so I didn't even try. Perhaps I just felt like I should actually try applying for a school where I knew I would be accepted. So that's what I did.
So my college admission story isn't typical. I didn't exactly go through a lot of struggles or challenges to become accepted. I had big dreams but perhaps they weren't so big after all in comparison to some others.
My dreams have changed and I've faced challenges. Still, I've worked hard to make my dreams come true. In the end ,that's the most important part.
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