By Sofia Garza
The search for the right college is a challenging task regardless of your circumstances. If your
decision was anything like mine, then you had a long list of likes and dislikes that you imposed
upon each university website. They all promised the same thing with only varying degrees of
difference, pictures of laughing students in stylish dorm rooms (with the college teams colors of
course) flood your screen on any of the sites. And after about a million applications on Common
App, each with their own hoops to jump through, it finally seems you’ve got the hang of the
whole process. Therefore, it might come as a shock that the applications are only the first step
in a seemingly endless line of hard choices to be made.
On top of school, sports, and work, these tasks may begin to pile up. I’ll admit that I cruised
by on some of the required material, narrowly meeting the deadlines when they started popping
up like a game of Whack-a-Mole. My attention was focused on my classes and my friends,
soaking in the time we had left together before splitting off onto our own separate paths. But
there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that comes with the final decision on which place to
continue your education. For me, it was important to find a place that I knew was focused on
providing students with hands-on experience in their community. With all the uncertainty in the
world, I wanted to be somewhere that would make me become certain in at least one thing,
myself. I was happy to see that a lot of my classmates shared that same desire to seek out a
place that not only will teach them, but help them grow as people. Whatever university they
chose, it makes me happy to know that it was the best one for them personally because they
decided that for themselves. Augustana College was the absolute right choice for me for that
one reason alone, because I know that I can do what I was meant to do there, whether that
turns out to be the major I go in with, or something entirely new.
As I pack for move in day, I want to leave a message behind for the newly appointed seniors
in town. It’s okay to not be sure, to drag your feet on filling out forms, to just focus on the day to
day challenges of high school, and it’s even okay to not have the answers that your exasperated
parents and e-mails throw your way. In the end it’s all leading you towards your future path, and
that makes even the difficult times worth it. Just try not to wait until 11 p.m. to submit those much needed forms, okay?