Just like everyone else, I am also dealing with college preparations. I just wanted to share some of the current plans here just so I can look back at this in my dorm or rented apartment/house/condo or my parent’s house and see how different my plans ended up being.
Initially, my plans were simple. I was going to go to USM for digital journalism and live my life as a freelance journalist or something like that. I was going to live in a dorm and rely heavy on scholarships. But then I realized their English program was heavy on creative writing and I decided I wanted to do that. But a tour around the communications building on the campus hanged that to broadcast journalism. Back then, I was very attached to USM as it is a school that many of my friends are at or are going to be, and it is close to home. So, letting it go became very hard and other colleges didn’t ever cross my mind.
It wasn’t until after I decided on the English degree again and began to apply for college. This was when I started expanding my horizons, as I knew it was dumb to just go with one school. I knew about the in-state schools and applied to all of those knowing I wouldn’t be going to any of them, but I did begin to realize that I may be missing out my not visiting any of these campuses. This made me cross a few off the list and bring others higher up. Belhaven was almost equivalent to USM on my list as I was able to imagine myself living there to a certain extent, but in the end, I feel as if my religious beliefs would not align with those of the students there.
An English degree then began to look a lot less appealing when I realized how different an English class and a creative writing class could be. I’ve always been more in touch with the creative side of literature rather than the technical/”boring” side. So, USM, though still being a top school out of technicality, became very vulnerable in this race and would make it very easy to move out of the way. That is what happened after the professor for creative writing at Belhaven told me about the University of South Carolina. This school seemed like a great choice for me because my father lives an hour away, but I still didn’t like the idea of being away from my friends. That idea sat for a little bit until my father began telling me things about the school. One thing he informed me of was that the school had a very impressive film program. This sparked an idea in my head. I’ve always wanted to write scripts and make movies one day, so why not study film? I began to research the school even more and now I can safely say that the University of South Carolina is now my top school. I will be applying for a primary major in either English or journalism, and a secondary major in Media Arts.
But that is not the end. Of course, there’s all the money and financial aid and stuff that needs to be worked out, but I have figured one thing out. I want to live off-campus and not with a family member. A friend and I will be moving into either and apartment, mobile home, or condo alongside attending college. Before that happens, I plan to get a job and work for the rest of the year and work all summer to save up money. I’m excited for this because of how badly I want control of my life. Coming to MSA have given me a taste of freedom, so now all I want is to go out and live in it. I know I can still feel freedom on campus, but it’s for the plot I swear.
