Unexpected College Choices
May 13, 2020 Uncategorized 9 comments eredmun20
Up until the end of last school year, I had not thought much about where I wanted to go to college. Even up until the beginning of this year I only had a vague idea of what I wanted but mostly I had put off thinking about it completely. It stressed me out to think about it and I did not really know what to think of it all. When I finally did start looking, I was overwhelmed, to say the least. There were so many schools to pick from. I am naturally an indecisive person, so picking what I want was very difficult. On one hand, I love the city, I wanted to be on my own, and I wanted to go far away. But on the other hand, I also love the quiet country and I wanted to be around people I knew. Quite the conundrum, I know. I spent hours upon hours looking at schools and trying to piece together what it was that I truly wanted in a college. I decided I wanted to stay in Maine, I didn’t want to stay too close to home, but I wanted the option if I ever wanted or needed to get home quick. So after lots of time talking it out with teachers and guidance counselors along with online research, I found the school I wanted. Or so I thought.
The University of Maine at Machias was the perfect school for me on paper. It was not too far away, but far enough for me to be independent, it had the major I wanted, it had programs and clubs I was interested in, and I had a family member who went there and they loved it. So, I started to think I had finally found the perfect school. I almost committed there too. Luckily though, they weren’t taking in deposits yet. So my father and I decided to take a trip up there to visit a few weeks later and I planned to pay my deposit in person. I thought this trip was going to be amazing and that I was going to feel right at home like some people have said when they visited the campus of their chosen school. So to say I was disappointed when after my tour was an understatement. Do not get me wrong, the campus was great and all of the people were so nice and the tour was very informational. Random fact, did you know that a student there had an emotional support rooster? All throughout the tour, I had a gnawing feeling in me that I could not decipher until the car ride home. It was not what I wanted. It was not my school. Even after all of the research, talking to people, looking at pictures, and thinking I knew what I wanted…I did not. So when I got home I was a little frantic. It was January and I thought I had no time to find a school that was the right fit. I thought I was going to have to take a year off because I spent so much time thinking I was all set and now I was back to square one again. But with my indecisiveness, I also tend to overthink and thinking back on it now I know all of this was just me overreacting from stress.
So when I got back home, I was a little stressed and on a whim, I went on a college tour with a friend to the school she was attending and I loved it. It was exactly what I was expecting to feel when I visited Machias. I could see myself there for the next 4 years of my life. After the tour and talking to the professors, I was sure. This was my school. And an unexpected bonus was that two of my best friends would be attending the same school. A ton of unexpected things came out of this whole ordeal but in the end, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
Photo by jimmywayne on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
9 Comments
I totally get where your at with that, I loved Presque Isle. I went on a tour with my family and I loved it, I agree it was not too far for me. But I toured Farmington a few weeks later and I felt like that was the place for me! I loved it immediately!
I had avery similar experience to this last year. I though I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to go to CMCC and study nursing. Until the beggining of this year and something about nursing just didn’t feel right in my heart. So I had the challenge of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life all over again. but now that I have everything figured out, I feel very much the same as you did, that I was overthinking everyhting.
This story made me think of myself at the beginning of this year. I was the same way, I wanted to go to CMCC. I was stressed out with college too and I just wanted it to be over with. When I toured the college it did not feel right. I was not convinced that it was the college for me but I also did not want to go too far away from home. During basketball season is when I finally figured out what college I wanted to go to. The UMA coach was interested in me and I went to tour the campus and fell in love with it and with everyone there. It felt perfect for me. What other colleges did you look at during this process? Did you go to any other colleges to tour them? If you did have more time to think about college, do you think that you could have picked a different college?
I also found the whole college search to be way too stressful. But for me it all revolved around money. I really wanted to go to Thomas because that is where my mom and brother both graduated. But I also told myself that I wanted to get through college debt-free. So I had to go with my cheapest options. I wish I could do it differently, but i know in the long run being debt free is more important then having the real “college experience”.
This was very well written!!! I’m so happy you found the right school for you, congratulations!!! The college search is hard. I was rejected from my top 3 colleges, nothing special or inclusive, but with those rejections, I found a feeling of loss and disillusionment similar to how you describe. This constant anxiety and thought of “What now?” Very well done! I’m so glad everything worked out for you in the end! 🙂
This blog post was a very enjoyable read. I too can relate that sometimes when you think you have something in your life all figured out and then you realize it is not at all what you wanted or how you wanted it to turn out. Also, the way you described this experience and the word choice you used made it a very smooth, understandable, and relatable read.
I had that same thought in my head too! Where I wanted to be in the city and go somewhat further away, I wanted to go to Boston, all of my junior year that what is I wanted to do. But guess where I ended up going? Central Maine, because honestly was to scared to make a choice like that, but I really related to your part of the story when you talked about how you wanted to go to the city! Hope you love the college you picked!
Over all sounds like it was a great unexpected experience. I’m glad you found the right college for yourself! I went through the same kind of experience. I got offered some great opportunities at some colleges out of state and I thought I would be able to travel and be okay with it but as I got to thinking and planning I got major anxiety about being that far away from my family and friends so I backed out of all three of the colleges that accepted me and just like you I was back at square 1. Pretty sure this was at the end of February. So I was kind of freaking out. On the flip side I had a lot of other things on my plate so I kinda pushed off the college thing as much as I could until I finally just decided to go to CM. Not really big for schooling so I didn’t look into it to far but they have what I need so i’m just going to go with the flow.
I hope that you love where you are going! I wanted to go into the Marine Corps when I got out of school, instead, I chose to work with children and become a teacher. I also wanted to go to a college outside of the state. I wanted to get as far away from Maine as possible. I ended up choosing a college in Maine, just like you. I was recommended to a college but I ended up going to a different one because I didn’t feel at home at the other college. I am so happy that you found a college that you love and you can see yourself at.