Senior Reflection #1: Decisions.

If I were to imagine where I'd be and what my future plans would be at the beginning of the year, it certainly wouldn't be where I am now. Change is different, but it's also good.

Mainly, I never thought I'd be going to the University of Virginia. I applied simply because I thought it would be a good back up to William and Mary. Although UVA is ranked higher, William and Mary has historically been difficult to get in to-- especially for white NOVA girls. Hello.

I don't really know why I wanted to go to William and Mary. Since I was in sixth grade or so, I thought that I'd be going to UVA. However two years ago, I visited the William and Mary campus. Even though it was gloomy and cold that day, for some reason I really liked it. It was old and historic and looked like a college. Again, for no reason, it was set in my head that William and Mary was the school I wanted to go to.

So I applied to six schools: James Madison, Virginia Tech, and Mary Washington (backups in case something went horribly amiss), UVA, William and Mary, and McGill Univeristy. My parents generously pre-payed in-state tuition (because I am the spoiled semi-only child), which meant that it'd be most advantageous if I went to an in-state school. After going to French Governor's School last year, I was pretty obsessed with French, and after a rocky start to senior year, I decided that I wanted to get away from everyone as far as possible. So McGill seemed like a good bet. It's not too expensive for going out of state and out of country, it's in a nice city, and it looks kind of like Hogwarts. See image below.

I remember thinking around November that I'd rather go to VT than UVA if I got into both. I know it sounds crazy, but there's a certain type of person at different schools. I didn't think I was a UVA kid. (I'm still not the stereotypical UVA kid.)

So April came, and I got into all the schools I applied for. Meaning that now I had to decide where I wanted to go.

This sucked.

I quickly narrowed it down to UVA and W&M. McGill was now too far to consider. Plus I liked the idea of not having to pay for college. Too many people I dislike are going to VT. Mary Washington and JMU were out of the question. So I visited both schools, UVA first, then W&M. In the end, William and Mary just wasn't as impressive to me anymore. I liked that UVA was more of a college campus and that there were more things to do, but I also liked the traditions at William and Mary. Size didn't really matter for me, but W&M was more close-knit. UVA HAS SO MANY PEOPLE. It really didn't help that every single person I talked to was like, "Oh, you're such a W&M kid!"

So obviously, in the end, I chose UVA. The decision was never super clear, but I had to take some sort of leap in a direction. And now I'm glad I did! Huzzah.