College

There are some life decisions we never remember consciously making, whether it's avoiding bananas or attending college. Other people never choose to drive any kind of car but the type their parents owned, and others never realize when they decided to hate paisley. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would attend college after high school, yet I do not remember ever actually making the decision to go.

I have always had good grades in school--As and Bs, with one C in a high school chemistry class. I also always assumed I would attend a church college, most likely BYU Provo. It wasn't until the time to put my applications out that I had even heard of a BYU-Idaho, so on a whim I decided to apply there as well. Those were the only two places I applied. I didn't even consider going for somewhere more prestigious like Harvard, Yale or Brown. If I had, I would have had to do a lot more planning and done even better on my ACTs.

I was seventeen when I graduated high school--my mother cursed her lack of foresight, realizing our big decision to skip me a grade ahead in grammar school would in the end rob her of an extra year with me at home. This also meant I was a freshman in college at the young age of seventeen, without a driver license, even. (It actually is "driver" singular--we say "driver's license," but that is not its correct title.) I didn't get my license until I was 19. I still think it's ridiculous you don't have to take driver's ed if you're over 18, especially if you're not native to this country.

I was accepted to every place I applied--with one catch. If I went to Provo, I would have to start in the summer, only a month away from my high school graduation. If I went to Rexburg, Idaho (I had to look it up on a map), I could start in the fall. That same summer I had tried out for the Oakland Temple Pageant, a wonderful production about the early Saints and Joseph Smith, and one of the last live plays of the church. I was selected to be part of the "Stage Chorus," a group of about 30 singers who performed several key numbers. Over a hundred saints in the area tried out for this elite group; I loved this production and wanted very much to be a part of it. That is what made my decision. I have lived with the consequences ever since.

Temple Pageant was an amazing experience--singing about principles and values dear to my heart and central to my testimony, making friends, being part of something bigger than myself-- and I would not trade that experience for anything. So off to Idaho I went. I have already endorsed a young person's experiences away from home--coming back after that semester was the first time I saw my home town in a new light. 

There were a few challenges in college, but nothing monumental. I am an excellent classical student--lectures, textbook studies, note-taking and studying are all very familiar tools in my arsenal for conquering new material. I typically earned all As and one B per semester, nothing less, finally getting straight As in my last semester. I started working while in school, and I handled that just fine as well. I made friends, dated young men, (22 first dates! My dad wanted us to go on at least 50 :), got my heart broken and maybe even broke a heart or two myself. 

I chose my major once, English, professional writing emphasis, and stuck with it all four years and dropped only one class my entire academic career (Dance 102, and that was only because I was stuck dancing with the female TA--sorry, but I took that class to dance with boys!). I designed my own minor--two clusters, one in communications and one in creative writing--and I even managed to go on a British Literary Tour. I graduated with only a couple grand in debt (the tour), and I also met my future husband.

But I do wonder how differently my life would have turned out had I chosen to skip Temple Pageant and go to Provo instead. Most likely I would have married a different man, made different friends, perhaps had different work opportunities, but I probably would have graduated with the same major. Maybe I wouldn't be married now, just still looking. Perhaps I would have ended up living with my sister, since she was in Provo for many years working and going to school. I do know I was planning to get a Masters degree next. UC Davis was particularly appealing--close to home, but not too close, with a great literature program and a decent LDS population.

I still want that Masters degree. And now I'm thinking I might even want it from a noteworthy school. I'm not sure that really matters in the end, though--to me, a degree is a degree, and it shouldn't matter whether you get it from some state college or Princeton. If you want a quality education, you will get it no matter what school you attend. Still, it might be nice :)