Even from those of you who have followed my blog all along, I’ve kept much of my personal life a mystery. Partially, I was worried about privacy. However, I also simply didn’t think anyone would be interested in hearing about my daily life. But since I seem to be wrong (I love hearing about others’ lives too), here’s a little more about what I’ve been up to these past few years. I won’t start at the very beginning, even though Julie Andrews says it’s a very good place to start. Instead, I’ll start with my senior year of high school.
During my senior year of high school, I unfortunately did not go about college hunting in the best way. If it wasn’t Ivy League, I didn’t even want to look at a school. I very much wish I could go back and tell my high-school self how crazy her thinking was.
I fell in love with UPenn as soon as I set foot on campus. The only problem: Nobody told them that Katie was destined for their school. When the college letter arrived, it was suspiciously thin.
My dream school waitlisted me?!
Looking back, I know the waitlist letter, which ultimately turned into a rejection, didn’t have anything to do with my worth; it simply meant the admission department decided I wasn’t the right fit at the time. To me, though, it felt like I wasn’t good enough. Even now, I still feel a little ashamed admitting my rejection.
After shedding many tears over the matter (and literally throwing the waitlist letter in the fire. Burn!!!!), I settled on Bryn Mawr College. It was quiet and peaceful but also close to an urban setting. It was a good school, far from home, and it even participated in a consortium with UPenn, meaning I could take classes at my dream university.
Bryn Mawr was a terrific school, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting great girls and taking advantage of the school’s close proximity to Philadelphia. I even prefer Philly to NYC, because it’s smaller and more manageable whilst still being jam-packed with fun. But the school just wasn’t right for me. You know how sometimes you can feel—in your heart—that something’s just not right? For me, Bryn Mawr was too small. It was difficult to get into all the classes I desired, since most only offered one section. I found myself signed up for classes simply because they fit my schedule: NOT cool when you’re paying for each course. After my first year away, I transferred to SMU in Dallas.
Update: click for My College Story – Part 2.
Question of the Day:
How did you choose what college to attend, if you attended one? (Or, how do you plan to choose?)
First of all, I just want to say that I think it’s hilarious that you think this post is long…my average post is at least twice as wordy! But I talk a lot in my writing to make up for the fact that I’m pretty quiet in real life (well…sometimes I’m quiet haha). Anyway, I’ll stop making fun of myself for a second and say that I’m really happy you shared this! I think that a lot of people do not get in to their dream schools, or their lives don’t turn out as they had originally planned (my life is definitely different than I ever expected it to be when I was growing up) so I’m sure we all can relate to you on some level.
When I was applying for university, I was in very poor health…and all I wanted was to get away from it all and start fresh, where no one knew me or knew about my health problems. So I applied to a bunch of schools that were as far as possible from where I live. (By the way, in Canada we don’t have the whole Ivy league vs state school vs community college….We just have university or college, and they are two entirely different things here). Anyway, I ended up compromising and going to Dalhousie University, which is in Halifax, only a 2 hour flight but still far enough that I felt like I was getting away. I loved Dal- it definitely had its ups and downs due to my health, but overall I was happy with my decision. It was a beautiful campus in a beautiful city, and I appreciated the fresh start.
Oh this is such a good post for me, Katie, because i am currently in the process of finding which school to go to. It’s so hard to know because there are literally thousands of schools out there! Its actually really beneficial for me to read about all the commenters stories!
I know I want to do something with food science and nutrition. But the question is should it be a medical degree? a scientist degree? homeopathic or traditional? Then there’s the fact that only a small percentage of the schools offer food science and nutrition majors. I also know that I should receive some kind of scholarship for tennis. If it is a northern school, it would be easier to get onto the team with a full-ride. However, if it is a southern school (which I REALLY want to stay in the south, because I just don’t do well health-wise in the cold) it would be much harder to get on the team with a scholarship!!! Ugh….so many decisions!
Spoonfulofsugarfree,
I hear you! My one tennis friend was one of the best in the STATE and even she had to go to North Dakota in order to get a scholarship! 😕
It’s funny our college dreams change when reality kicks in. I dreamed of going to San Francisco State. As a writer, I NEEDED to be close to the spirits of my beatnik muses — Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. My mom and I even planned a trip to SF to see the school my senior year, but then I found out that having perfect grades (I was valedictorian) meant getting a free pass to the university in my hometown. At the same time, we were turned down for a Pell Grant because my parents made too much money (ironically though, not enough to actually pay for me to go through San Francisco State without me getting loans….the curse of the middle class, right?). So, I ended up taking the free ride at Arkansas State, living in the same town as my parents throughout college….looking back, I’m kinda glad. I got a totally free college education, and while all my friends are paying back loans, I’m practically debt-free.
Bryn Mawr is near where I live – I used to teach at Harriton high school which is pretty close by and passed by bryn mawr to get there for a back way. Small world!
I loved this post 🙂
When I was a kid, I dreamed of college. I was obsessed. I had a folder of college-related things when I was, like, 11.
My dream college always was, and still would be Evergreen State.
This thing is, as I got older, I just became frustrated and tired of school. I tried to drop out 2 weeks before graduation, I’m not even kidding, I was THAT sick of it. However, my grades were too high, so even in my absence I graduated right on time. Which was a relief.
But I didn’t go on to college. In the year after I finished high school I was hit by a car and, well, it was really bad.
After that, I started to pursue pre-med, but then… I didn’t.
I am naturally a writer and English-obsesser, and I would love to do anything related, but my life situation doesn’t allow me to do that right now. I think that one day I will take writing/English classes and look into becoming a physician’s assistant.
I went to San Diego State University because I thought it was everything I would want it to be. I wanted to be a teacher and it was the best school in San Diego (where I live) to go to be a teacher. Never mind that I ended up minoring in Accounting and that’s what I ultimately went into. I am happy to have gone there to get to be in the marching band and a tiny part of the music department. That was tons of fun. Lately I have been missing college a bit. Putting aside the studying and the test taking and the homework, when you look at school as being around people who teach you things and make you think about things in a new and different way and challenge you, it is a fabulous place. (Not speaking from too much experience as most of my classes were just memorize info and show up and take test kinds of classes…or was I just that kind of student…)
Sorry for the novel! Good question.
Okay, so Katie….I know this isn’t related to your post (have fun in NY btw!), but I just had to tell you.
I’d been contemplating making some fudge babies for several months now. I’m trying to cut out/hopefully eliminate sugar, but I need something to fall back on when I absolutely MUST have something dessert-y. They looked easy enough, but the dates made me hesitate. I understand why they’re in the recipe and what their purpose is, but my only experience with dates comes from some nasty dried, sugar coated ones I found in some trail mix when I was little. (If you couldn’t tell, I hated them.)
To get to the point: I made them. They are AMAZING!!! Really! I love them! I was ecstatic. Now I have a sugarless, much healthier alternative when I’m craving something fudgy and sweet. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Not to keep beating my point over the head, but WOW. I really thought I wasn’t going to like them. People, try them. You will like. Even if you think dates are gross. 🙂
Heather,
Oh thank you so much! The fudge babies’ egos just inflated tenfold thanks to your comments :).
Awww Katie I’m so happy you shared this personal story with us!! I definitely always wanted to go to USC, but I think there were other (cheaper, public but really good) schools I would have gone to if i had gotten into them! But, ya know, isn’t it just great how it all *works* out so perfectly in the end?? There is just NO NO way i would be even close to where i am now, or as happy, if i had taken a different path! I’m glad to hear u followed that “feeling” 😀 xo
Hey Katie, I really enjoyed reading your post! Like one of your early commenters, I went to UT Knoxville. I don’t think that a state school was the right choice, but I was really overwhelmed by the process of choosing a college! I think that it’s such a crap shoot, and for most of us, it’s a lesson in expanding our comfort zones, and perhaps, realizing and adjusting our expectations. I’m glad that you ended up in a program that you loved!
Hope you’re enjoying your vacation!
This is fun! I love learning more about you! My college application process was devastating. My GPA was perfect and I took all GT/AP classes, and my SAT was pretty great…but unfortunately, I was not interested in continuing in academia. I desperately wanted to go to an elite arts conservatory and get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting (theatre for the staaaage!). Unfortunately, the odds were stacked against me. I’m a short, white, brunette female and soooo many other actresses looked like me. All my apps were extremely expensive and required that I fly into Chicago and audition in person for an array of these schools… If I got in, all I would take in school would be acting, voice, movement, speech, Shakespeare, etc.-type of classes.
I traveled all over Texas for 3 years of high school doing competitive speech and theatre tournaments and transferred high schools in order to a part of one of the best theatre departments in the state of Texas.
I got rejected from all the theatre programs I applied to: Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon, North Carolina School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, Cal Arts, University of Minnesota/Guthrie Training Program, SMU…everywhere. Of course, this was the theatre snob in me — like you, I only wanted to go to the “Ivy Leagues” of arts schools, the best of the best. I got into the academic programs of SMU and Minnesota, since they decided they would still accept people into the school even if they weren’t doing the intensive theatre program.
I didn’t know what to do…it looked like my theatre career couldn’t continue. I ended up going to Minnesota for a year and took general theatre classes, but I wasn’t happy with being a frozen block of ice up there (it’s unbearably cold!) or with not being an elite theatre student. I reapplied the next year to a bunch of those schools and got rejected again.
I thought my life had ended…and my dad stood there and cried with me through the end of the rejection process. But I picked up my life again, applied to my dad’s alma mater (where my younger sis would be heading to the next fall) as a nutrition & dietetics major, and got accepted. Now I’ve graduated from college and will be a Registered Dietitian — if all goes as planned — by next summer. I am so glad I took this path because I ended up in a city I love full of people I love. And I never would have survived as a starving artist, trying to make it as a stage actress in NYC. This gal’s gotta eat! (As you can understand yourself, I’m quite sure, hehehe.)