My journey to finding the right school
I will never forget the day I got my ninth rejection from the ninth school I applied to, nor will I forget the first. My first rejection was from Mount Holyoke College, a school I was sure I’d get into. Oddly enough, it was the first school I interviewed for.
Moreover, I was on my way back from the senior National Honor Society induction at my high school, just moments after a classmate of mine got into her dream school: Boston College. Shortly after, I received an email from Mount Holyoke with my decision. It was made. And it was final. Being the most impatient and headstrong young woman I was (and still am), I had to check the email. I thought it’s “now or never.” There was clearly a glitch in the email, but I could still make out the words, “We regret to inform you…” The only words I could mutter were, “They rejected me.” After that, I was completely inconsolable, and because I only applied to competitive schools, I knew what was to come in the months to follow.
After I got my ninth rejection, I knew I had to do something. My high school frowned upon their students not going to college right away, so I still had to be that perfect Catholic School Barbie Doll. My therapist suggested a gap year, to which I immediately said “no.” So, I did the impossible and I actually applied to schools late. I applied to Rutgers (rejected), Quinnipiac (accepted), Saint Anselm (accepted), Catholic University of America (accepted), Penn State (accepted), and Notre Dame of Maryland (accepted). I wound up settling for Saint Anselm. Why? Because they gave me the most amount of money, and my middle-class family could only afford so much. I found out on the day of my Baccalaureate Mass that I won a scholarship from the National Society of High School Scholars, which helped a significant amount.
What also helped in the months to come after graduating high school, that I had a best friend going in with me, whom I met on Facebook. Her name is Katelyn, and she’s still the sunshine in my life today. I met a guy named Mike, who became a year-long boyfriend until I realized that I was just being jerked around by his emotional abuse and mind games. It wasn’t until two months after our break-up that I wasn’t even happy at Saint Anselm. I only stayed because of my friends. More than half of my friends didn’t even value my intellect.
That spring break, I made the courageous decision to follow through with my decision to transfer. I wanted to be at a Rhode Island school, where I moved to in May 2016, two days shy of my 20th birthday. Thus, I toured and sent in my applications to Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, and Roger Williams University. I chose RWU and I did turn not turn back once. The reason why I did not turn back was that it was the one school that had a creative writing program.
