<p>I'm wondering if how I'm feeling right now might just be the cause of other stresses right now, or if others have felt this way before me but then gone on to amazing college experiences. It's not just that I don't feel excited anymore, but that I catch myself daydreaming about going to schools that are so drastically different, and that aren't even schools that one would picture a top student from my area attending, unless there was some sort of huge financial problem. This post might end up being really long but I just want to get how I feel out in words somewhere.</p>
<p>I applied early and was accepted (to my giddy, screaming, hugging-all-my-friends self's surprise) to a school that's in a city where I have a lot of relatives nearby, one of my relatives is even working there next year; has the programs I want and leaves plenty of room for me to explore all of my interests; has an actual campus while being in a city unlike NYU; is where my dad and a few other relative went so my family is very excited/proud; and of course boasts stellar academics and reputation. When I applied, I was thinking about how wonderful it would feel to get in but was pretty sure that I wouldn't get in, so I could hardly picture myself there. My list included extremely similar institutions: medium, in a city, whatever.</p>
<p>Before I was accepted and before I had even applied, I had this habit of reading up on schools that I knew I would probably never actually attend--I go to a small private school in an area so affluent and "elite" that pretty much every kid at the public school goes to a top-40-ish school... it's ridiculous. Pressure has always been particularly high at my school because my school just prides itself so much on where it gets students accepted, and the list is sent out in this ritual fashion etc.</p>
<p>I've always been very self-conscious and quiet, and slightly awkward, which I've been given a hard time about by a lot of girls at my school... but I've always comforted myself in the fact that I have an interesting mind that I can travel places with. But sometimes I would get so insecure about my academic record because my grades and scores never matched my perfect older sister's scores, or those of other smart girls in my grade for that matter, and my sister/those girls were always so much more outgoing, self-accepting, and happy seeming to me. It felt so useless to be such a wreck emotionally and socially if I didn't even have some special academic talent, or any claim to being smart. Long story short, getting into the Ivy would help me feel a little more secure about who I am... I see what's wrong with this, but keep in mind that my confidence has never been anywhere healthy.</p>
<p>So now I'm into this school, which made me feel so, so on top of the world for a while, but I've found that I'm jealous of my friends attending UGA, UW-Madison, UF, South Carolina... for some reason I am so drawn to these larger, more down-to-earth (as opposed to my ranking-topper Ivy), and less "intense" where I could recoup, relax, and have more space to re-define myself, while still testing out all of my interests and possibly being a stand-out in an honors college. Getting away from the prestige-chasing culture of my area also appeals to me, as does abandoning the unhealthy desire I had to feel better about myself simply by placing the dream reach school's bumper sticker on my car, even though the school did appeal to me initially.</p>
<p>I don't know where I'm trying to take this... I used to be so in love with this school. Where did that go? Is it normal to stop being excited about attending your school? I try to quit my guilty pleasure of surfing the websites and reviews of schools that I mentioned in the last paragraph but it just fulfills something in me that would totally confuse my family, friends, and school (WHAT? That smart girl is going to the University of... Georgia?). I try to get myself excited about the Ivy, and sometimes succeed, but when it comes down to it, the school is full of people just like people from my town and it's in a bustling city and I just keep secretly wishing that I could go somewhere totally different and just BE.</p>
<p>Any words of guidance? Of course I'm going to attend the Ivy next year... I can't bail, clearly, and I might love it which would bring my current situation (friction with my town/school that's making me so unhappy) to peace, which would be amazing. I don't know. :-S</p>
<p>Also, have any of you ever had a similar struggle?</p>
<p>P.S. If you just had to know, the school I ED'd was Penn.</p>