“You are officially a wildcat.” That was the most exciting sentence to read when I opened up a letter from the University of New Hampshire about three months ago.
I am from a small town in Massachusetts with enormous town pride. Friday nights at my high school looked different every season but consisted of the same thing all year round. In the fall everyone would gather at the towns football field and cheer on our home team to score a touchdown or sack the quarterback. During the winter the “red sea” would travel to the rink and scream chants to get our team going. In the spring we would gather back at the field and pray for another lacrosse win. Those are some of my favorite memories from high school.
As a senior in high school, I picked a school a tiny school about 30 minutes from my home. I thought it was the perfect fit because I was extremely close with my family and I thought I would get lost in a huge school. When I got to this new experience freshman year, it was so fun at first because I was on my own, taking care of myself, but the excitement got taken fast. As time went on, I realized that I was extremely unhappy with where I was. There was no school pride, no one gathered at the football field or the rink and screamed memorized chants for the home team to win. Most weekends a lot of the students would travel home, and nothing would occur on campus. I genuinely believe that you have to do whatever it takes to be happy, even if it means doing something so complicated that you never thought you would be the one to do.
After my first year at that school, I decided to give it one more semester thinking maybe it was because I was a freshman, and maybe sophomore year will be better. The day I moved in September 2018 I knew that I was not in the right place for me. So my first semester in my sophomore year I put my new plan into action. One of the hardest things I had to do was tell my family, I thought they were going to be so mad. But to my surprise they were not at all, they were happy that I knew to make a change to better myself. On weekends my mom and I would drive to different schools, and I remember driving into The University of New Hampshire. It seemed to be the perfect fit for me. It was a much larger school, almost ten thousand more students! It has SO much school pride for their wildcats, and there are always activities occurring and hundreds of clubs to choose from, I knew this is where I needed to be.
I began the application process and then eagerly awaited the arrival of my acceptance or denial letter. I still remember the day so vividly that my mom called and said a letter from UNH arrived. I told her not to open it because I wanted to. I drove home that day and tore open the top of the envelope. Before I pulled it out, I looked at my mom and took a deep breath, “well here we go” I exhaled. I pulled the letter out and read the words “You are officially a wildcat.”
Leaving this small school would mean giving up the program I was thriving in there and having to do an extra year and a half somewhere else for the degree I wanted. It also meant leaving some of my closest friends. But leaving the small school would mean I would get the real college experience I was so badly craving. The decision was a tough one, but I knew I would only be happiest leaving.
Leading up to when I moved into this new big school, I was extremely nervous. “What if no one likes me” “what if my roommates are mean” “what if…”, There were so many what-ifs that I barely slept a few nights leading up to move in day. When move-in day finally arrived, the one hour drive I lost all nerves, and I was extremely excited. I moved into an on-campus apartment with four other girls. I have become so close with all of them. Besides my roommates, I have made so many other new friends and met so many people that are very similar to me. Everything I was worried about was not true at all.
Every college and University has good things and bad things about it, but it is different from every student’s point of view. Just because one person likes a school and found it to be their new ‘home’ does not mean the next student will. It is essential to be happy where you are and to find a place where you fit. If the first place you were was not making you feel as though you were thriving, there is nothing wrong with making a change. At The University of New Hampshire, I found my fit. Everyone so far that I have met has been so welcoming and friendly. I have made a new group of very close friends. I have been to a few hockey games where everyone cheers on their wildcats proudly, and that made me feel at home. I am constantly busy and have not been to my real home once yet this semester, honestly because I do not have time. I take so many different opportunities and continuously step out of my comfort zone here that I am never bored. One of my favorite opportunities that I took up was Her Campus which is the reason I now get to share my story of how I got to UNH and why I transferred here to become a wildcat!
GO WILDCATS!
xx