Application anxiety is real. Not everyone has the pleasure of experiencing it, but for those who do, I felt your pain in high school. However, I decided to take the road less traveled by venturing off to community college, or as I like to refer to it, High School 2.0.

As I was finishing my sophomore year at home, I came to the conclusion that I should probably transfer to a four-year institution, because, according to my parents, my associate’s degree “wouldn’t get me too far.”

I originally had my heart set on Illinois State University. However, I had a friend who was attending Mercyhurst at the time, so I decided to come and visit. I was able to walk around campus, meet some of the students and see how beautiful the campus was in the winter time—I’ll admit it, I love snow.

The actual transfer to Mercyhurst was not as painful as I thought it would be. In fact, it was completely painless. I had applied online, originally to be a music therapy major. After some consideration, I decided the field of communication looked more appealing than music.

I had called Mercyhurst asking how to go about changing the major I had applied for. After talking to two people in admissions, I was told I would receive a phone call in 10 minutes. Thirty minutes later, I was still waiting for that phone call.

As I was unlocking my phone to call back, I decided to check my email. It was the best decision I ever made. It was almost like magic.

The first unread email was from Christian Beyer in Admissions stating that I had been accepted as a Strategic Communication major. It included my credit evaluation, with all my transferable credits on it, and my scholarship information. I could not believe how quick and easy it was.

A few weeks later, I received the email about Summer Orientation, which was my only complaint about my transfer to Mercyhurst. Most of orientation was aimed directly toward the freshman, which made sense, but I felt very awkward and out of place considering I was a junior in a sea of freshman. I knew all the dangers of alcohol and partying and I did not have to worry about the whole underage drinking thing, since I had turned 21 years old 13 days before my orientation. Plus, I had already figured out how to navigate my own academic success during my first few years of college. The class of 2018 shirt was also a nice touch, however, I am graduating this year, class of 2016.

I would not say I wasted any time though, because it was nice to be able to meet and talk to my academic advisor about my schedule and time here at Mercyhurst—shout out to Meghan Waskiewicz.

Luckily, Mercyhurst made the transfer process quite simple. They responded to all phone calls and emails in a timely manner and everyone was friendly and helpful. I could not wait to start (well, technically, finish) my college career at Mercyhurst.