People always encourage you to find the college that “best fits”. Guidance counselors remind you to not overlook the small liberal arts colleges, parents constantly remind you of scholarship deadlines, and you are left feeling overwhelmed. College applications are not something that is lightly undertaken and therefore it was surprising when I turned in my application for ASU, after applying to twelve other schools. After that, being accepted into Barrett two weeks after my campus visit, I was signed up to attend ASU for Fall 2017. You see I never imagined that I would be here, nor did most people in my life.
I was raised in the southeast for my entire life, applied to small private liberal arts schools back home, did scholarship interviews and got accepted. Somehow I ended up at the largest public university on the west coast. Life has a funny way of working out and while I was puzzled about why I was here, I was more than ready to start.
In a majority of my first semester classes my professors had all their students write small autobiographies about why we were attending Arizona State University and all of our hopes and dreams. When I was confronted by this homework assignment I was terrified. I was not about to write that the only reason I was here was the fact that there were family circumstances that had changed everything,the financial aid was my best west coast offer and that a small part of me was still devastated to be here. No, not when these were the professors I needed letters of recommendation from and had chosen to teach at this university. Instead I wracked my brain for reasons that did not sound too cliché and still helped me be true to myself. Eventually I stumbled upon the phrase ‘accidental sun devil’, something that fit my situation so perfectly.
You see, while I was here by accident I was very open to becoming a small part of the large community and connecting within. I wanted a way to express that while I was overwhelming scared and nervous I was also excited for the new adventures and had high hopes.
People tell you that you should attend the college that you connect with the most, that you should have a dream school, that only certain schools are acceptable options but the truth is that it’s ultimately only four-ish years of your life and there will be opportunity no matter what. The college that you end up at; does not define you, rather it is the experiences that you have at that school that will. It is because of this and all that the past two years have brought me that I proudly state that I am an accidental sun devil.