Finding that Perfect College Fit

I hadn’t even dreamt of the possibility of attending a school like Yale before my junior year in high school.  Even then, applying was just a possibility that I began to consider.  As a Canadian student, I didn’t know much about American colleges except for what featured in popular culture references like Gossip Girl and Legally Blonde. Diving into the college search process was both intimidating and exciting.  After research that included hours immersed in Yale’s online resources, I finally visited Yale on a humid day the summer before my senior year of high school.   

Yale quickly became my Hogwarts; growing up in the height of the Harry Potter craze made the residential colleges and stone-walled courtyards seem like a dream.  I finally had a picture of what I believed my ideal college experience to be.  Instead of awaiting an owl (as I may or may not have secretly done on my eleventh birthday), I took to the process of preparing and submitting my application to Yale.

After applying via the Single Choice Early Action program, I could not have been happier than the December afternoon when I read my first college acceptance letter… to Yale!  But while Yale and I had made our decisions, my parents had not.  My parents were hesitant about numerous important factors in my college decision process.  Was Yale too far from home?  How expensive were American colleges?  Was Yale really the best fit for me?  All of these factors seemed to pile up, and I often worried that my dream of attending Yale wouldn’t materialize, despite how close I’d come.

Unlike the smooth-flowing storylines in TV shows and big screen flicks, obstacles are not as quickly, glamorously, or seamlessly resolved in real life (or so I have found).  The lessons of communication and compromise were certainly reinforced along my path to Yale as I sought to express my college wishes to my parents.  All of their concerns were valid, and after talking with them, I applied to a Canadian university as a compromise, or as a back up plan as they viewed it. 

In my opinion, the trick to the whole college application process is understanding that it’s a two-way street.  While we are all so busy focusing on preparing college essays and securing letters of recommendation, colleges are also trying to attract qualified and enthusiastic students.  Alex, one of my friends here at Yale, likes to compare the college search process to online dating

Each college and each applicant is unique, and out of a world full of students and universities, we strive to find that perfect match.  It can be hard to realize at the time, as much insight is often retrospective, but happiness and success are not rooted in one place; rather, they can sprout and grow.  As much as I love Yale (and believe me, I do), I am now confident that even if I hadn’t worked out my financial aid package with the Office of Financial Aid or if my parents had decided that Yale was simply too far from home, I still could have planted that seed at a number of other schools and experienced happiness, friendship, and a fulfilling college experience. 

The bottom line: hard work pays off; happiness is not limited; communication is key. You can do it!