Amanda U.
MyLife 24-7 Ambassador

Picking your college is a very personal process. Your parents want to send you to their alma mater or Harvard but it doesn’t matter because it is not them who are going to college, it is you.  Choosing a college is not easy. Most kids think that their college counselor will do the work for them but that is not true. Only you can know what is best for you, so you have to do all the work yourself. Trust me, I learned from experience.

I had been waiting for college since the 8^th grade. You can’t imagine how much I researched colleges even though I was four years away from applying to schools. It is never too early to start dreaming. Freshman year, I attended college fairs and was gawked at because I was so young. Sophomore and junior year I visited so many colleges that I knew within the first minute of a tour if I liked the school or not. By the time senior year rolled around as test, projects, and papers piled on, I was not scrambling to choose my colleges. I knew exactly the colleges I wanted to apply to and the application process was not difficult for me for that reason.

The one thing that did hold me back in the process was my college advisor. He sent me home crying one day because he made me believe that I could not get into my dream school, which was the University of Pennsylvania despite all my hard work and ambitions. Initially, I was deferred from the school and it seemed my fears had come true: I was not good enough for my dream school. I gave up on my dreams for a few weeks. This was of course unacceptable. I had let someone else get my thoughts down and as soon as I realized this I made sure to get in touch with the acceptance officers at the University of Pennsylvania and do anything I could short of giving money for a spot in the school.

I now attend the University of Pennsylvania in the Wharton School of Business and I did not get there with the help of any college counselor. My challenge to you is to search for your dream school and get accepted.