Blog Entry 6: Getting Through the College Process

I'm sure everyone reading this has more or less gone through the college process. The process of tests and budgeting, of essays and acceptance. I'm not new to it, nor am I an expert. In fact, I have been worrying about the collegiate-sized beast that is secondary education since the first time I received a B in my freshman year of high school.
I have always felt like college was the finally of childhood, and, as could be imagined, it was built up in my head and supported with continual reinstatements of the necessity that college has become. With the weight of college being thrown around. college became a part of my high school life. I was, in my mind at least, forced to talk with family members about their experiences about college, my counselor and what I had to do to make it to college, and my heckling friends who all debated which college was the best for what. I didn't know. I did not know what college was best for what. I judged colleges by their mascot until about the beginning of my junior year. The lightning bolt that sent shock ripples through my brain and body, telling me "You're almost done" was much scarier than I had anticipated.
After all, I was still in high school, yet I already had to prepare for something years away. Something that could, make or break my life. Whether it would be my back from crippling college debt, my mind with demanding classes, or my eyes from the long hours spent watching the textbook remain the same only to go to bed, the restful part of the day, and stare up at the bland ceiling wondering what I had just read and questioning if college was for me. High school was already not easy. Between sports, classes, AP or otherwise, clubs, and friends, female or otherwise, it already seemed like I might go under. This was not helped with the constant drone of teachers rehearsing in tandem "Just wait, you will never get so much slack from college teachers. They are cruel."
The good news is that it is not that hard. Taking it one step at a time makes it easier. Firstly, decide what you're good at and what is important to you. Secondly, look at colleges that highlight what is important to you. Thirdly, decide what you can make without and what you have to accomplish to get where you want to be. It sounds much easier and, in truth, everything is easier on paper.
 Hard work does pay off. I'm a Senior in high school right now taking all my classes that I need for undergraduate school at GCC for the school I was accepted into literally last week, the Colorado School of Mines. I enjoy math so I looked at careers relying heavily on math and I love Colorado. The Colorado School of Mines is one of the top Stem-based colleges in the country and my family members all knew someone successful from Mines. With all the good came the bad, I was terrified that I would not be able to afford college. I looked around and signed up with many scholarship programs that would reach out to me for any I qualified for. I eventually received an email from Questbridge telling me of a four-year, fully paid scholarship to one of 38 colleges and the prestige that would get me. I filled out the application that took me two weeks with an average time of an hour a day on the scholarship form. It paid off. I am now a finalist for the scholarship and have recieved a large increase in college interest that was already present due to hard work my junior year.
What I am getting at is that college is daunting, college is ugly, but college is both fun and necessary. It is not impossible to get into a college no matter your background, no matter what you might want to do. Excel where you can and try where you do not because with the right mindset it is easy to succeed.