From Harvard. . .

To many, Harvard exemplifies the epitome of the “best and most elite college in America”. When I was young, I dreamed of going to Harvard. In other words, I had caught Ivy-its. To me, acceptance at Harvard meant success and accomplishment. Little did I realize my blithe and shallow interpretation of my college thought process.

Slowly, but gradually, I realized that the best college in the US was not necessarily the best college for me. Instead of focusing all my efforts on the “best college in the US”, Harvard, I should be searching for the best college MATCH for me. It took me a while to find that right college, but I knew that it was out there somewhere. It was thanks to a Catalyst Conference that I finally found the right college for me.

The Catalyst Conference was a weekend long program at UNC-Chapel Hill (Carolina) to raise leaders of social change. Little did I realize how much this conference would impact my college decision. The Catalyst Conference instilled in me a passion for UNC-Chapel Hill as well as social change. I realized that from everywhere I looked and everyone I had met on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus that I felt strangely at ease with myself, a feeling that I had not come across at any university I had visited thus far, not even Harvard. I felt right at home. Following that realization, a moment of exhilaration and thrill filled my senses as I absorbed the twirling leaves against winter’s grey and the breeze that swept through the entire campus. For that single moment and nearly every moment after, I could not imagine going anywhere, but UNC-Chapel Hill. . .

Needless to say, the Catalyst Conference experience changed my college decision. UNC-Chapel Hill is now my #1 school. However, I will still be applying to Harvard and other universities with Carolina never too far from my thoughts. I have become and always will be a Carolina fan at the heart. I will always remember the Catalyst Conference as my first taste of the college experience and its enduring impact on me.

To the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. . .