It’s been a little over two years since I first got accepted to UT Austin and honestly, I still can’t believe it. This has been my dream school since I was 5 years old. I grew up just 10 minutes down the road from campus and just knew that I belonged here. It was my dream and I would do anything to make it happen. I’m not sure why but I always knew I wanted to go to college. Ask anyone I know, when I was younger and people would ask what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would just respond with “go to UT”. Why? I couldn’t tell you for sure but I just had a feeling that it was going to happen.
When I was young, my parents got divorced and I was taken away to South Korea with my mom and her new husband. I was devastated. Now that I was what seemed like a million miles away from my dream, I sort of gave up on it. I stopped thinking about college and just moved on with life. The school work wasn’t interesting, don’t get me wrong, I still did well but it was like I wasn’t working towards anything. It was just something I had to get done. It was this way until the summer before my sophomore year of high school.
I was back in Texas to spend the summer with my dad and brothers when I got a call from my mom. For years I had begged her to let me move back home but she would always reject the idea. I’m not sure why but this was the day I decided to bring it up again. I begged her to let me move back. I cried and told her that if she didn’t let me I would resent her for the rest of my life. If she made me go back I would never speak to her again. She told me to give my dad the phone and to go calm down. So I did, I handed my dad the phone and took a step onto the patio. It felt like it took an hour to catch my breath and relax but then I heard a tap on the door and turned around to see my dad with a huge smile on his face. I stepped back inside and grabbed the phone. My mom sighed and said that I was old enough to make my own decision so if I wanted to, I could stay in Texas. I couldn’t believe it. I begged for YEARS and all it took was a few tears and saying I would never speak again? I was thrilled but then it hit me, I could still go to UT.
The next two years are sort of a blur. I went into hardcore studying and was doing anything and everything to fluff up my resume. I did a bunch of volunteer work, would stay after school to study, and even got to intern with the city of Austin for a few months.
I still remember the day I applied to UT. It was 3:00 am and I was in the Salt Lake City airport. I hadn’t started the application and it was due the next day. I honestly didn’t even think I would apply because I was so scared of being rejected. I had wanted this for so long and now that it was so close I was so afraid that I would have nothing left. I was just staring at the application page when this girl walked over and sat next to me. She glanced at the screen and was like “Oh are you applying? I’m a junior and I love it there. It’s the best.” I just told her that I had been thinking about it. (I have no idea who she is or where she is but girl, if you’re reading this right now, I owe you a coffee or something). When she got up I said screw it and decided to apply. What was the worst that could happen? I think I finished everything around 5:30 am and submitted it. I then hopped on my flight and sort of forgot about it. I didn’t even know when decisions were going to come out.
It was January 17th, 2020, at 10:32 am. I was just sitting in my room watching TikToks when I got an email notification. Not knowing who or what it could be I decided to open it without looking at the subject. When it popped open it was my acceptance from UT Austin. It had fireworks as the banner and said that I was in.
- What the hell? I did it? Did I get in? Oh my god, I got in!
- Wait. Why the hell am I getting an email and not a package in the mail? I felt duped.
- I was sobbing and screaming. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was getting murdered.
I ran into my dad’s room and threw my phone at him. He picked it up, read the email, and just nodded and said nice. I didn’t care, I couldn’t believe it. My whole life was leading up to this moment and I had done it. I was accepted into my top pick, Advertising (AKA the best major btw), and I was thrilled.
Now here I am, two years later and I’m still just as thrilled and am in disbelief nearly every day that I’m here. I wouldn’t change a thing about anything that happened and I think that it just really goes to show that if you want something, it can work out. At least that’s what I’m going to keep thinking until things start to not work out for me.