The Bachelorette: College Edition

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DAISY PROM
Opinions Editor

Sifting through colleges, I set myself up for disappointment with my visionary standards. This school has too many kidnappings and that school doesn’t offer my major; as I search through student review websites, I see myself next to the smiling students in the photos of the campuses, trying to picture my new home.
With college-app deadlines having just passed, I wait the two to three months with my anxiety gnawing on my insides and a rally of questions. What if the information on the brochures were only enough to seduce the scholar in me but not enough to evoke passion? What if everything was perfect except for its lack of Quidditch? What if the school vision or motto differed from my own vision by a word? And then there were the worries of whether or not I would ever find another group of people who would appreciate my sense of humor.
The worst part is, despite thorough research, I might still end up in a place that is less than perfect for me. Having to judge a school through brief campus visits felt much to me like having to pick a suitor based on a single night of speed-dating. The fact that I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen is what scares me the most.
But after months of spontaneous hyperventilating, I know that the most assuring thing about my future is my ability to absorb it all with a deep breath. I’ve done my standardized test of choice, my A-G’s, my college research, my overly revealing essays. No amount of catalogs or tarot card readings could ever prepare me for the culture-shocking experience, but maybe that’s the way it has to be with life: learning how to adapt to strange, new places with new people is part of the college experience and to fear it rather than to embrace it would be foolish.
Refusing to be content with a nearly perfect university will only dampen this exciting, new chapter in my life. If I set myself up for disaster, then no one will get to enjoy those four years of promised enlightenment and shenanigans.
For now I have to trust that my hard work and my ability to fall in love with a place for its food will keep me content wherever I end up.