College of Charleston was an outlier in my college process. It was by far my furthest school (13 hours away from home), one of the smallest schools I applied to, and the only one in a city. I applied because I loved the city of Charleston and wanted to have a city option if I ended up wanting that. I was accepted to their honors college and received merit and financial aid scholarships, which made it one of my least expensive schools. I ended up not attending CofC because, despite the scholarships, I worried the cost of living in Charleston would be too expensive, and I thought it was too far away from home.

I was already very familiar with Rowan University when I applied since my only sibling and both my parents went there for college. I already knew I would be happy if I went to Rowan, but my acceptance to the honors college and a scholarship offers which made it my least expensive option by far left me very tempted to go to Rowan. In the end, I decided I wanted to pave my own path and go out of state for college (but Rowan will always have a piece of my heart <3)

When making my final decisions on where to attend college, Miami University was my first choice and James Madison University was my second. I had visited Miami once and loved it, and for most of the time leading up to decision day it was my first choice. I had been offered a scholarship and really like their tuition guarantee, but I ended up picking JMU because I was offered a scholarship that made it less expensive than Miami. I was also accepted to JMU’s honors college while I had been rejected from Miami’s, and JMU was significantly closer to home.

University of Georgia was the only reach school I applied to, and I ended up getting rejected. I never really intended to attend UGA because of its distance from home, so I wasn’t upset by this decision. I mostly applied because I felt I needed a reach school, and UGA was an attainable reach that had the state school feel I wanted from my college.

I applied to East Carolina University as a safety because of its great school spirit and was accepted but with no honors college or scholarships. I cut it off of my list once I found out I wouldn’t get any money.

I applied to Susquehanna as a safety because it was close to home and had an amazing study abroad program. I was accepted with their maximum merit scholarship, but I decided early on I didn’t want to attend Susquehanna because it was smaller than I was looking for and didn’t have the sports and school spirit I wanted.

The College of New Jersey was a harder target for me, but I ended up being accepted. That being said, I got accepted into my second choice major and didn’t receive honors college or any scholarships. I decided early not to go to TCNJ because it was smaller/lacking school spirit, and more expensive in-state than a good amount of my out of state options.

I applied to West Virginia University as a safety, and I was accepted with honors college and a merit scholarship. I liked WVU because of its school spirit and their major options, but after I toured, I decided that the campus was not for me.

Syracuse was the very first college I toured, and it instantly became my dream school. I loved the school spirit, the campus, the academics, everything about Syracuse was what I wanted in a college. I toured the fall of my junior year of high school, and by the time I got my acceptance in April of my senior year, I was no longer in love with it the way I was when I toured. It ended up being out of my budget which I was expecting, but despite thinking I would be crushed, I was ok with how things turned out.

Early on in my college admissions process, University of Connecticut was at the top of my list. I loved it when I visited. It was the perfect distance from home, and it had the school spirit that I wanted so badly. I was accepted but, sadly, I was not offered any scholarships which made it way out of my budget.

Appalachian State University was also very high up on my list nearing decision day because of its beautiful campus and its amazing football team. I was accepted to Watauga Residential College, waitlisted to their honors program, and even though I hadn’t received a scholarship, it was inexpensive out of state. I ended up not choosing App State mainly because of how far it was from home, but I had amazing experiences with everyone I met there!