College is the main motivation behind working hard in high school. Or at least it’s been my main motivation. Despite this, as I’m applying to schools, I’ve started to question why I’ve been working so hard all these years.
I’ve been touring all these big universities over the years, calling them my dream schools, but when you start to really investigate it, going to your dream out-of-state school costs – the same as buying a house. Applying to these big universities starts to seem so pointless because you start to notice so many people get into their dream school and just can’t go because it’s so expensive. They have their dreams crushed, and the goal they have been pushing for is brought to an abrupt stop because of money.
I blame these crushed dreams on the college hype. Everyone is hyping up the experience of going to a big school, going to college football games, joining fraternities and sororities. The big state schools with the good football team are what will give you the “college experience.” Or at least that’s the mindset I’ve been raised on. Most of my cousins who are currently in college or recently graduated all chose the big universities, and loved their experience with no regrets in their choice. Some of them ended up in-state so it wasn’t as pricey, but others spent all the money with no regrets.
These cousins don’t live in Georgia though. They haven’t been working towards the goal of the school that I’ve been told will give me the best experience for the cheapest price tag, the University of Georgia. Back-to-back national football champs, along with in-state tuition, and Hope and Zell Miller scholarships, the University of Georgia would be ideal. The glow of this school causes people in Georgia to overlook smaller public universities like Valdosta State or Georgia College & State University. These schools and schools like it are overlooked by most because they don’t have the same “shine” as the University of Georgia or the academics of Georgia Tech. Even though in reality a degree is a degree.
Despite my realization, I can’t seem to convince myself that the hype hasn’t gotten to me. This buildup of the college experience has made me want the college experience. I am just aware enough that I will likely get to experience the college experience even if it means going out of state. I’m aware I’m more fortunate than others for this, but I also just want to call out the fact that even though it’s cliché, everyone ends up where they belong in the end. Wherever anyone ends up you are bound to find a group of people for you because no matter where you go, colleges are big places with many new people. Also remember even if your goal is to just get out of Georgia, once you get your degree the possibilities are endless, and you can go pretty much wherever you want with your degree from wherever, small university or big university.
I am a strong believer in “everything happens for a reason,” despite the stresses of the college admissions process, I believe and hope that everyone ends up exactly where they belong.
