How I Got Here

Fun fact: I applied to 10 colleges

If I could rank them for which ones I thought I was most likely to go to, Carleton College would have been in last place. (Not because I thought it was the worst, just that I was least likely to go to Carleton.)

So how did I end up here?

Well to start, a little background on me: I’m a huge physics nerd. My big goal in high school was to go to a school where I could take physics, astronomy, and math classes and only take physics, astronomy, and math classes. So I worked on getting all of the gen eds I would need through AP classes, did internships over the Summers in space sciences, and worked my butt off so that I could get into a school that would allow me to do that. Additionally, I knew that in college I would want to stay semi-close to home.

When college application time came around, I applied to a couple reach schools, but mostly I applied to all the large in state schools and a couple out of state that were a couple hours away from home. The big one I was looking at was the flagship state school in Colorado (you can probably guess which one.) It had what I was looking for: close to home, a great physics program, and close to nature.

My biggest limiting factor was cost

My goal was and still is to graduate with zero student loans. Unfortunately, going to instate public school, even though it’s marketed as the cheaper option, was way too expensive for me because they give out very little financial aid. Therefore, I applied to as many scholarships as I could.

However, due to a series of events, many of which were completely out of my control, I ended up without enough money to go to many of the colleges that I was considering. It was a pretty emotional time because I had no idea what was going to happen. I still held on hope to the possibility that I could go University of Colorado, but every day it was dwindling more.

Then I got accepted into Carleton. Now before applying to Carleton, I didn’t know much about it. I knew it was a tiny school that had a physics program, was pretty competitive to get into, and had a free application. So I applied not really expecting to get in.

But I did! And they had given me best financial aid out of all the schools I had applied to. If I went here, I would be pretty much covered in terms of finances. At first it was just a nice school to have gotten into and I didn’t think I would go there. However, as the days before decision day were dwindling and I still didn’t have a plan of where to go, I realized I needed to take a second look at Carleton.

Visiting Campus

My Mom booked us plane tickets almost immediately after I said I wanted to visit (she’s pretty cool like that,) my great aunt let us stay with her while we were visiting (she’s also pretty cool like that,) and I went to visit Carleton College for the first time.

Now I’m going to be 100% real with you here: I knew before I came to visit Carleton, I was probably going to go here even if it turned out that I didn’t like the school much. By that point, I had really exhausted all of my options and I needed peace of mind. So it was a really good thing that I absolutely loved Carleton when I stepped onto it.

When we first arrived, I was honestly astonished at how pretty the campus is. I feel like a real propaganda admissions blogger, but please know that I’m being genuine. The photos online don’t really capture what it’s really like on campus.

My Mom and I got the tour, had lunch with a Carl, and I attended a class. I remember distinctly sitting in that shadow class, working with the students on physics problems and thinking that I could really belong here.

There is really something to be said about visiting a school because all the research in the world will do nothing for you if you don’t see what the campus actually feels like. And for me, Carleton felt like it could be home. So I decided to go here.

Being totally real again though, I was very uneasy when I first accepted Carleton as the school I wanted to go to. I felt uneasy about my decision the whole Summer. I had spent maybe 8 hours on campus, how could I know that I made the right decision? Especially since I was still disappointed about not being able to stick with my original plan of staying in state.

However, ever since I arrived here for the first day of New Student Week, I have not looked back at the decision with regret for a single moment. I mean that sincerely, I’m so happy to be here and I’m glad that I made the decision to be here. I have so much fun with my classes, my friends, studying for hours on end (and then goofing off for hours on end afterwards), and trying brand new things every

single day.

So why do I write all this? Well, I think it’s important to say: it’s totally normal to not know what your future holds. Even if all your peers know exactly where they’re going to go and you don’t, that’s okay. The feeling of not knowing sucks, but know that it will eventually end and it will be okay. And if you make that decision and you don’t know if it was the right one, know that that’s normal too. College decisions can feel so binding but know that if you don’t like it after a term, you can transfer. Just remember, it will all eventually work out in the end. You’ve got this!