This year will be one of the most important years of my life (and all other seniors). If you are lucky enough to go to college or be able to pick your college, it is one of the most important decisions of your life. It should not be rushed and do NOT get influenced by anything. Some people have the mindset of playing collegiate sports no matter what and that can really hurt you. Do not follow that dream to a crappy division 3 school with no education. Also, do not let your parents push you towards the school they went to. The only reason a parent should give their opinion on where you should go is if it is about money.. since they are paying for it. Finally, do not let your friends peer pressure you into attending the college they are all going to. You are going to make plenty of new friends at college no matter where you go. Pick your school because you want to go there, not your parents, not your friends, but you.
Last Sunday I applied to my first three schools. I applied to LSU, Alabama, and Ole Miss. All my life my parents have been steering me into going to LSU for many obvious reasons (money). LSU would be a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong, but I think it would be more fun to go out of state and get away from my parents and just do my own thing. I never really thought seriously about going to Ole Miss, I applied there mainly as a back up option, but recently I have really started to like it. Ole Miss and Alabama are usually easier to get accepted into than LSU. That is the main reasons I applied to those schools, they are close backup options that still are great schools. As of right now I will join my older brother at LSU and follow my parents’ footsteps, but a lot can happen in the next year.
tamerknaus 
Hey there Tamer,
I totally smell what yer steppin’ in, bruh. I had all these people saying that I should go to college. But I was like, nice try, I know all about your peer pressure mind tricks. No college for me. But then I figured that since BR doesn’t have a public curling team, college might be my best shot at turning my curling fantasies into curling realities. So I started “looking into colleges.” Still, though, I made sure to avoid all the “suggestions” of my peers (clarification: by “peers” I mean “everyone I know”) by doing the exact opposite of what they were clearly trying to trick me into doing. Some of the stuff that these “college counselor” types try to tell you is so obviously ridiculous. ACT? SAT? The only three-letter-acronym I need is L.O.L. 🙂
Trust no one and remember to curl ’til ya hurl,
James