As I’m sitting as this computer–dreading writing this article, dreading ending my career as a high school journalist–I can only think of one relevant thing to say: college isn’t everything.

Juniors, I was in your shoes. I had the GPA, the test scores, the community service, the teacher recommendations, the dreaded “college packet;” I wrote the essays; I mapped out my “safety, target and reach” school just like my counselor told me. For a while the only words I regurgitated were SAT, ACT and Ivys.

Last year, and even the beginning of this year, I was that high-strung junior who only cared about who was applying where and who got in where early. I went to a six-hour SAT prep class every Tuesday night and took practice tests on Saturday mornings. I was set and ready to conquer the collegiate world.

But it didn’t quite happen the way I wanted. Yes, I got into some of those places I set out to conquer, and yes, I also got rejected. But the moral of my story isn’t to forget about the almost out-of-reach schools if that’s where you want to go.

The moral of my story is simple: college isn’t everything. Who you are as a person and what you can offer to the world matters more. This long, hard and seemingly unfair undergraduate admissions process is only part of the story. What you can do with your life at whatever university you end up attending is far more important and valuable.
Yes, at Harvard you may make more impressive contacts than a person at a huge 40,000 person state school. But just because you graduate from that 40,000 person state school does not mean you are worth anything less than an Ivy graduate, which was my state of mind until a few weeks ago.

At CHS, students put so much stock in higher education, but much of that stock is only geared toward the “highest” education while most other schools are looked down upon. By CHS’ standards, and even my own, I may not be much: graduating with honors, yes, but not one of the lucky few who go to those prestigious and coveted schools.
But I’m going to a good school, I’m majoring in something I like, and I’m excited to go. So I’m not going to let CHS rain on my parade anymore.
Much of who I was and who I wanted to be was dependent on the university I would go to. When I didn’t get in, I was dazed, in shock and went borderline crazy trying to figure out what I did wrong and how to wake myself up from this nightmare senior year was starting to be.

But looking back now, I can see that had I gotten into that prestigious university, had I been one of those almost godly students walking the halls, I would not have had the chance to grow, find who exactly I am and want to be, and I would have most likely looked down on the people who ended up going to state schools.

So yes, this year was full of arguments, stress and tears, but in spite of all that heartache, I can stand here now and say that even if I’m not accomplished or successful by CHS’ standards, I’ve finally lived up to my own, and that is a good achievement to have by the end of high school.