I suppose I always have been searching for the “right” college experience. I was not aware I was looking for it from the start. After high school graduation, I was not shopping for a college dorm or preparing for a move many miles away from home. Instead, my college experience had already started the year before. I dual-enrolled at my local state college my senior year of high school, and I decided to matriculate there upon graduation. College had never been an ambition of mine growing up. I did have an interest in academics; I just did not realize that college satiated that interest. Simply put, my academic journey was always going to be different than others.
It started first by being homeschooled. My parents decided that it would be the best physical, emotional, and academic decision to homeschool my brother and I. While I will never speak negatively of their decision, I do understand that homeschooling is not for everyone. I will also never regret the decision that my parents made for me. I do not allow myself to ponder the “what-if’s.” The past simply is what it is; it shapes who you are, and it is your decision alone in what you will decide to do with your future. It is with this same mentality that I do not look back and regret that I did not apply for a single college, other than my local state college during my senior year of high school.
However, after I graduated from my state college, I knew I wanted that “college experience” everyone spoke of—the one where you live in the dorms and you attend school full-time. So I worked for it. I worked hard for a year as a paralegal, saving up while pursuing a second associate’s degree at my state college. After that year, I finally made my wish come true.
But it was not right for me. Falling sick with some health problems that year did not make my transition to living at a dorm any easier. After consideration with a lot of support from my college at the time and my family, I withdrew from academics for a year.
One year later and I step foot on a new campus with a whole new mindset. Getting my health in control was a relief, but what I have learned is that there is no such thing as a typical college experience. College is what you make it. Living off campus seems like a much better fit for me than living on campus ever was. Having a home prepares me to jump into my semester and make my college experience exactly my own.
Whether you start college at 16 years old, 40 years old, you live at home, or move a 1000 miles away, college is an experience unique to you. The longer I am in college, the more confident I am that I am making college the best experience I can with the tools I am provided.
Do not fret if college is not exactly what you expected. Remember that you are the own designer of your experience in college, and that there is a world of resources at your fingertips. Reach out to your professors, counselors, or other support services if you feel as if you are struggling. Everyone will have high and low moments throughout college, but as long as you strive to make the experience as positive as possible within your own limitations and goals, then your college experience will be exactly “right” for you.