Photo Credit: Liam Richards via Flickr.com

Like many Asian parents, mine wanted me to attend one of the top ten colleges in the nation—but I had no interest in even trying. I wanted to break free from the common misconception a lot of overachieving parents had—that getting into an Ivy League school was a valid way of measuring one’s intelligence and potential for overall success in the future.

Instead, in my senior year of high school, I waited anxiously to hear back from the University of Connecticut (UConn). That was where my older sister went and I wanted to follow in her footsteps. At school, she shared an exciting social life with a tight group of friends, met her future bridesmaids and husband, and always rooted for the Huskies. The basketball team was one of the best in the country, and who wouldn’t want to attend a school that had such fun spirit? Though my focus on social life wasn’t necessarily the most practical reason for wanting to attend UConn, I had it ingrained in my head that the school was the place for me. I just wanted to go somewhere far enough from my New Jersey home that I could be independent, and UConn’s campus was the only one I saw, so that was where I wanted to be.

But as it often does, the unexpected happened: I didn’t get into my first-choice college, after not even trying to get into any of my parents’ choices. I was upset and ashamed for days, so stressed out that I went to the gym two or three times a day for a week. But a few months after I received my rejection letter from UConn, I opened a letter from the University of Maryland (UMD) to see a “Congratulations!” in the first sentence. I was thrilled to be accepted, of course, but skeptical about whether or not I should actually attend.

As luck would have it, UMD turned out to be everything I never even knew I wanted, until I walked onto the campus as a freshman and saw the diverse classrooms and beautiful architecture. Unlike many others, UMD’s campus had a central hub with a sense of unity and high-spiritedness that was completely unexpected. Even UConn, whose school spirit I had so admired, only seemed that unified during sporting events.

Academically, it also didn’t take long to find that the school I’d only applied to on a whim was exactly where I was supposed to be. I entered as an education major, but quickly realized my passion for writing and reporting. Luckily, I happened to be at a school with one of the best journalism programs in the country—a fact I discovered after my first few days as a freshman on campus. My coursework was rigorous and challenging, led by NBC correspondents, Washington Post editors and more. I know I couldn’t have received a better education in the field I’m most interested in anywhere else.

And despite my initial reservations about finding my social niche, I forced myself to go to club meetings and campus events. I can be most awkward with strangers, but it was at these gatherings that I met my best friends, who were all sitting beside me during icebreakers. We found we all had a great deal in common in terms of interests and backgrounds and started hanging out at future club events. It was after such an event that I eventually met my long-term boyfriend of nearly four years; he knew one of my friends from that first week of school. Yet what if I had never given the social scene at UMD a chance, never pushed myself to be more outgoing, and never met those friends?

I think about how different my academic, personal and social life would have been had I not taken the initiative and attended those first few meetings by myself (as uncomfortable as it was). I found my future bridesmaids and maybe my future husband—just as my sister had—at a school I never thought I’d want to attend. Whether or not my future turns out the way I want it to, I know for certain that I’ve made life-long friendships at UMD and will leave a well-educated journalist in just a few short months. So it turns out my world didn’t come to an end, even though it felt like it when I was rejected from my first-choice school. Thankfully, my mom and dad were okay with the choice I made, too. Like most parents, they just wanted me to receive a great education.

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