Why Bucknell wasn’t my first choice for college

Ever since I knew what “college” was, I had in my mind where I wanted to go: Vanderbilt University.

My father attended Vanderbilt when he was on his path to an M.D. degree, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. We even made a deal: if I got a full ride to Vanderbilt, he would buy me a Lamborghini. Little did I know how rare a full scholarship from Vanderbilt was, so our deal was a no-brainer. I just wasn’t aware.

As I grew up, however, the answer to the question “Where do you want to go to college?” changed from Vanderbilt to Columbia University. At age 16 I fell in love with New York City when I visited it for the first time in 2012. The lights, the noise, the splendor… Columbia sounded too good to be true.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my father did not want me to attend Vanderbilt or Columbia. In fact, he wanted to see me at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. When this fact became known to me, I immediately switched my #1 college choice from Columbia to Amherst.

Once I visited Amherst for the first time in 2013, I fell in love with it, and upon arrival at Kent School, I was determined to make the grades to get in. Vassar College was my second alternative school, so I worked as hard as I could to thrive at Kent.

Unfortunately, I had a drawback. For the first three years of high school, I received a public high school education, and it wasn’t a good one. I was unprepared for what Kent had to offer, so I struggled the first trimester at Kent. November was the deadline for Early Decision, so I met with my Kent college counselor, who basically told me that my grades weren’t good enough for either Amherst or Vassar and that I should strive to aim for a school that wasn’t a highly ranked liberal arts school-Bucknell University.

I visited Bucknell the same time I visited Amherst. In fact, I visited many colleges during my spring break of my junior year along with the boarding schools I got into/was waitlisted for. It was raining when I arrived at Bucknell, and my boots got drenched in a heartbeat. My mother and I entered the Admission Office and were offered hot chocolate upon being greeted. We ended up having lunch at Cherry Alley Café, and I thought to myself, “I could be happy here” as we drove away.

My counselor showed me where I was in terms of what was average for students, who got into Amherst and Vassar, and that broke my spirit. Though I must admit, my first and foremost mistake—was listening to her. I shouldn’t have. I should’ve applied ED to Vassar and applied to Bucknell for regular decision if I didn’t get into Vassar. Instead I applied ED to Bucknell and received my acceptance letter in December.

At the time, I was happy I got into Bucknell, but little did I know I would soon come to regret my decision to listen to my counselor.

Bucknell is a great school. I can’t deny that fact, but I have to say that it’s not for everyone. I’ve made and lost friends. I’ve made mistakes and learned valuable lessons, but I know now that I will never be 100% happy here—at least not truly.

But at the moment, I am making the most out of the time I have here because that’s really what I need to do.

I don’t regret coming here as much as I regret listening to my college counselor because I shouldn’t have. If there is one lesson to learn from my decision, it’s this: don’t let others affect your dreams.