I was always a stellar student. Excelling at a college preparatory school, everyone assumed that I would go straight to an Ivy League college. However, I knew that this type of school wasn’t the right school for me. I’d already experienced the intense competition that an Ivy League school would have required and it didn’t suit my collaborative personality.

It took me a long time to figure out which college was right for me. In fact, it was basically a process of elimination. I started out at a state university and didn’t feel like it was a fit. I tried out a vocational art school and lasted about a semester and a half before I was unhappy. Ultimately, I ended up using a combination of community college classes and online classes to get a degree from an accredited four-year college.

This path looked murky and confused to the people who knew me. They couldn’t understand why such a smart girl didn’t go to a "great" college. But what I learned from experience is that the "best" college isn’t necessarily the one that ranks highest on all of the "top schools" lists. Instead, it is the one that has the right combination of features to meet the unique needs of the student. Finding that school can take some effort but in the end you’ll be glad that you ended up in the right place. I sure was!