After graduating high school in 2018, I wasn’t sure what to do next. I knew I wanted to attend college and get a bachelor’s degree, but I wasn’t really sure where to start or if I was ready to go to a university. There were many reasons why I opted to go to community college, but the uncertainty of what I wanted to pursue was the main one. At the time, I lived in Virginia and there was a well-established local community college called Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), with many campuses nearby. So I opted to start my higher education journey at community college. This would allow me to save money, stay close to home a little longer, and figure out what degree and career path I wanted to pursue.
Starting college at NOVA ended up working very well. I was able to ease into classes and get the hang of being in college. One great thing about community college is the flexibility it allows. NOVA had multiple campuses in the area, and I could customize my schedule however I liked due to the surplus of class offerings. My schedule consisted of attending my morning classes and then spending my afternoons and evenings walking dogs for my small business to earn money. I kept pretty busy doing this but maintained a good balance between work and school.
One of the biggest challenges of transferring schools is figuring out which classes to take and whether or not they will transfer. Luckily, my mom was very supportive and helped me figure out which courses would most likely transfer. I also emailed transfer student counselors at universities I was interested in to help, which was very valuable. This ended up being a bit of a challenge to figure out, but in the end, I was able to get all but one class to transfer.
After about a year at NOVA, I decided to apply to some schools in Washington State. I had a lot of family in the area and visited every year, and I was always curious if I’d like to live there. I ended up applying to Gonzaga, Washington State, and Whitworth University. Although I had worked hard at NOVA and had a GPA of 3.7, I was very nervous and unsure of whether or not I would be accepted to any of the schools I applied to. To my surprise, I got accepted into all three. I was also pleasantly surprised that each university offered merit scholarships for my GPA. Ultimately, I decided to attend Gonzaga University. Gonzaga was my top choice all along, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I would be accepted. After touring the campus the prior summer, I felt that it was meant to be, and everyone I had talked to had great things to say about it.
Ultimately, choosing to spend my first two years of college at NOVA was a great decision. I saved a decent amount of money by doing so and had the time to start Beltway Barks. I also gained a sense of direction during this time and decided I wanted to pursue a degree in marketing, thanks to my experience with my dog walking business. I became a better student and candidate when applying to universities because of my time at a community college and ended up having a good transition.
Stay tuned next week to hear more about my experience transferring to Gonzaga.