A little over a year ago, around mid junior year, I had to start thinking about colleges I wanted to apply to in the fall. At first, I started looking at colleges in New Jersey such as Rutgers and Monmouth, but after visiting both, neither of them felt like the right fit for me. I expanded my search to surrounding states such as Pennsylvania and New York, even though deep down I knew I didn’t wanna go to college in either state.

From March to June of 2020 was a huge period of self-realization for me. Spending hours upon hours a day by myself led me to build up the courage to follow my dreams of moving to California. I began to realize I had to do what would make me happy, no matter how it made others feel. So after a few months of isolation, I began to expand my college search to the west coast. I had a huge list of colleges I planned on applying to which all had good programs for my major.

Fast forward to October/ November, it was time to start applying to colleges. Throughout California I applied to Cal Poly SLO, Loyola Marymount University, Chapman University, University of San Diego, and San Diego State University.

At first, around September, I had my eyes set on San Diego State up until it became time to start applying to schools. At this time, I had grown to really like Loyola Marymount. After finding out about all my admissions decisions it became time to compare prices of the schools, and Loyola Marymount had greatly exceeded the price of any other school, making it a non feasible option.

This had left me unsure of where I was going to end up in the fall, and it felt like time was inching up on me as I only had a month left to make a decision. I had my eyes set on this one school, and it turned out I wasn’t even going to be able to go. It took a little bit of time for me to face reality and realize that I still have other amazing options, and that I should trust that the universe was guiding me in the right direction. During the first week of April, I flew out to California to visit the schools I had gotten in to, and at the end of the week, I had made my decision.

Before heading out to California, I had thought when I came back I would have had to make a very hard decision, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. When I visited San Diego State, I felt a real sense of belonging, and I could just tell it was going to be the school I would end up choosing. The size, the location (the most beautiful city), the academics, and basically every aspect you can think of was a perfect fit for me. This just went to show that everything happens for a reason, and that me being unable to attend Loyola Marymount redirected me to where I’m supposed to be.

Everything about San Diego itself influenced my choice as well. The city has so much to offer a student like me, and I cannot wait to experience life on the west coast. I have dreamt of living in California for the longest time, and it’s hard to believe that in less than three months I’ll be starting a new life there. If anything, the college decision process really taught me to put my trust in the Universe, as it is always guiding me in the right direction. I believe that this is where I’m supposed to be, and that everything happens for a reason.