The decision of choosing a school after high school was purely mine. I would tag along with my friends to visit campuses such as the University of Cincinnati and the University of Toledo to see what they had to offer. My parents never tried to put an input in about where I applied to or explored. Yet, once the acceptance letters appeared in my mailbox my parents started eyeing my reactions to each of the envelopes I would open. I was excited for each of the letters I received, yet was not sure which I would choose at the end. When my acceptance came from The Ohio State University reached my eyes, I was dumbfounded. I could not believe at what a prestigious school it was and for the admissions staff to allow me to attend was a great honor. Thus after, I continually received the afterthoughts of my parents and family members.
My father wanted me to stay in my hometown and save money. I was offered a full-ride and OSU was only offering so much financial aide. For the first couple of months I went along with my father's wishes to attend UT for the first year then later transfer. As I thought about it longer I explicated to my father that Ohio State had extensive programs that would benefit more if I would attend for the full four years instead of the last three. Night after night I would fight my dad on it with the hope of his blessing to venture off. To this day he still believe it would have been smarted to stay behind. If I had the chance of re-do conversations I would explain thoroughly about the school through every step of the process and add in emotional basis showing that all my intentions were strong about what I would like to do with my future.