Unfiltered

Here's me being honest, no filter.
I love Bay Path, but my decision to choose it as my college wasn't an easy one. The thing is, the hardest part of making it wasn't because of me and my doubt, it was because of other people telling me that another college would be a better fit. Because my hard work paid off, and my list of acceptances was impressive.
 Syracuse. Goucher College. CUNY Hunter. Mount Holyoke. The list goes on.

And once the acceptances started rolling in, teachers started prying. With congratulations came recommendations on which college I should choose.

And over and over again I heard colleges that weren't my number one school.

Because let me reiterate something I've said numerous time before. I love Bay Path. And I love the financial package they gave me too.

So the recommendations, they were taken, thought about. But at the end of the day, it was my decision.
Because it's my life, my future.

So before you teachers try and protest about how you feel and why you told me over and over that I should accept, say, Mount Holyoke's acceptance instead of Bay Path, let me tell you how I felt.

I felt like my privacy was being invaded. I felt like nobody cared about what I wanted. I felt like the only thing that was important was how reputable the name of the school I chose was. I felt like the face of a corperation or a business, like my decision and my future was being marketed like an advertisement on a train or the side of a bus.

I chose Bay Path, and I chose it over Syracuse and Mount Holyoke and Goucher and Pratt  because you know what? I wanted to. Because I've worked my ass off for eight years, and that gives me the right to choose for myself.
Not anyone else.
 Because don't you remember what it felt like when you're life was changing all at once, like you had to make the biggest decision of your life, and everyone had an opinion, but the only opinion that really matters in the end  was yours?

So what if Bay Path is only about 100 years old? This high school is only four years old. Are you saying someone should choose Stuyvesant over UCHS because of that?

I love my decision. And regardless of what happens, I will respect it. Because choosing it over a baby Ivy League? That's real courage. Following my heart instead of the skewed perception of success constructed by society?

That's real courage.

 It's not all about what will look better on your resume.

So on Senior Signing Day, I'm going to proudly take that stage and say, "My name is Michelle Soto, and next Fall I will be attending Bay Path College."

React how you want to that statement.