As a junior, the pressure to soon pick a college is high. SATs and ACTs, GPA and rank, what you want to major in, where you want to live, financial aid, scholarships, all these things and more are flooding most of our minds right now. It’s almost as if everyone is just scrambling around trying to get their lives together and figure out their futures at the same time.

What has been a game changer to me is realization and acceptance. Not everybody is going to get into an Ivy League school, but anyone who wants to go somewhere will likely have the chance. I’ve been dreaming about life at a university since I was a little girl.

But around this time last year, I started to lose hope in myself. I thought that I’m not smart enough to get into college and go to med school to become a nurse like I’ve always wanted. But the fact is, just because I don’t have a 4.0 and I’m not at the top of my class doesn’t mean I won’t succeed. I don’t have to get into an Ivy League school to be a nurse. If you want something, there are different paths to reach the goal.

What people don’t understand is that everybody is different. People learn in different ways and at different paces. These differences don’t make one person less smart or capable than another. Some people often talk down about community college, but an education is an education.

It’s like people who view people with smaller houses as less than those with larger ones, but both people are living under shelter, so what does it matter? We are all going to school and trying to reach our goals together, so thinking less of people who aren’t making perfect grades is irrelevant. You don’t have to peak in high school to go off and have a successful life. Again, everybody has different ways of reaching their goals.

The best thing to do during this time is to kind of develop a tunnel vision. Focus on what you’re doing and how you’re going to get where you need to be. Don’t let other people intimidate you or make you believe you have to do certain things to be successful.