Nearly a year ago, I found myself stressing over the wording of the 50 word and 500 word responses to college apps all the while procrastinating everything else and the stress-causing babbling. A little more than a year ago, I finished my last post on this uneventful site, concluding Governor’s School and opening my senior year.
And so, the last year of realizations, failed attempts at the manifestation of dreams long ingrained in my definition of success, have gifted some regret, contempt, apathy, (perhaps) wisdom and appreciation. This is then duly titled “Updates, long overdue” as, with strong intention, I had planned on keeping active, and just as I have library books 5 years overdue hiding underneath my bed, I acknowledge that, for myself and others, it may do good to write and rewrite and eventually share the thoughts and happenings of the year past into the ever-closing future.
Applying
Around this time last year, as I repeat, I had it ALL figured out. Hours of research on the all-knowledgeable College Confidential, several phones calls to peers whose acceptances sparked interest and a whole lot of jealousy, and nightly sessions of Instagram stalking universities and their admits led me to believe Stanford would be the perfect fit. More than perfect, really. Being one of six, and the oldest, to a single mother, would leave me with near no debt, I’d spend the next four years living gloriously in Cali’s sunshine and on Stanford’s amenities, including those two large pools and fitness center. I’d become a football game attendee, already having considered college football on the West Coast acceptable whereas high school football in my small Appalachian town was not. I researched potential classes and read ratings of professors. To say the least, I became attached, regardless of how the odds were not in my favor. Continue reading “Updates, long overdue”