It was junior year and my class was looking up colleges that we planned to apply to for a class assignment. I was browing a website when someone leaned over my shoulder and said, “Northwestern, huh? That’s a really hard school to get into, and on the slim chance you do get in, you wouldn’t be able to pay for it anyway.”
My heart sank. Northwestern was my dream, and I had someone telling me I couldn’t have it.
I wasn’t hearing this from just anyone either. A school counselor had told me that; someone whose job is helping kids get into college. If they said I couldn’t do it, then maybe I really couldn’t.
To say that I was crushed would be a major understatement. I was devastated. Maybe it would have been easier to brush off the comment if it had come from a fellow student, but it hadn’t.
After that, I had completely given up my dreams of becoming a Wildcat and started focusing on other, less competitive schools. I went to meet with a college adviser, outside of school, and he had asked me why I wasn’t looking at profile schools. He then informed me that Northwestern, as a profile school, gives out the most financial aid and scholarship money of any school, and I definitely had the grades and scores to get in.
Long story short: I got admitted under early decision with over $50,000 a year in financial aid.
I was ecstatic. All my hard work actually did pay off. The fact that I almost didn’t go for my dream because of one comment is almost unbelievable.
I firmly believe that we should follow our dreams no matter what people say, because chances are, they don’t know what they’re talking about anyway.
Sure, it may be cliche, but everyone needs to be reminded of it because it’s too easy to forget. As long as you believe, what everyone else says doesn’t matter.