I remember sitting in my dorm room at the University of Louisville bawling my eyes out to my mom. Every other sentence out of my mouth was “Why did I choose this school?” I would fall asleep every night just wishing that I was to be woken up by the morning sun that always peered through my bedroom shades back home. Instead, I woke up to the sound of the UPS jumbo jets flying right above my dorm room. The harsh reality was that I was stuck somewhere I didn’t like and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. The saddest part was leaving all the girls I thought I would be able to call lifelong best friends. I only attended the University of Louisville for one semester and then transferred to a community college back in my home state of New Jersey.
Ocean County College in New Jersey is a very beautiful school, but I never lingered for more than a second on that campus once my classes ended each day. I knew nobody there. I didn’t grow up in the area so when everyone stood in the quad after classes talking about their weekend plans, I quietly put my headphones in and made my way to my car. I didn’t make any true friends there because let’s face it, I knew I wasn’t going to be there for that long. I was the student who kept her head low, did all her work, and did nothing but study. I knew if I wanted schools to offer me scholarships, I was going to have to bite the bullet and put a tremendous amount of time into my school work. It wasn’t as hard as I had thought to focus on my school work. All my friends were away at school having the time of their lives which left me with very little to do other than to truly focus on my work.
I had thought that one semester at community college was going to be enough, but I still had no idea where I wanted to go. I was terrified that I was going to make the same mistake that I did with my first school, so I decided to spend an extra semester there. I accomplished a lot of things while I was there. At the moment I didn’t think that maintaining a 4.0 GPA was anything special and didn’t boast about it in fear that people would tell me I only achieved good grades because it was a community college. Looking back, I see how much I had accomplished academically there. I became part of Phi Theta Kappa, a national honor’s society, got asked by the dean of students to tutor multiple people in various subjects and overall worked on myself.
Today I attend the University of New Hampshire and I couldn’t be happier. Going into school with random roommates was probably one of the best decisions I could have done. I met some amazing friends, got involved in various organizations and had many laughs along the way. Although I don’t always enjoy the cold, I wouldn’t trade being at this school for anything.
It’s very hard heading off to college, but even harder when you transfer multiple times. My story may be different than many others, but one thing I can say is that transferring isn’t the end of the world. Although 4 years isn’t necessarily that long in the grand scheme of things, it’s not worth being at a school that you don’t truly enjoy. It’s not the end of the world if you transfer to another school, or two, so that you can be happy. College is a stressful time and there’s no reason to add additional stress to your already hectic life. Things will get better, trust me. You will be so thankful for all the memories and friends you will make at your new school and the nervousness you may feel now will eventually fade away. I may have been the girl who went to 3 schools in less than 3 years, but I wouldn’t change it. I finally found a place where I am happy.