Why I Chose Bradley University

For those of you who don't know, I just finished my junior year at Bradley University.  Although I have had my ups and downs at my school, I absolutely love it and am so blessed to be able to attend such a good school and receive the quality education that I get.

But as a senior, in high school, this was not an easy decision for me to make.  Even though decision day has passed for current seniors, I wanted to share how I ended up picking Bradley University.

Orientation the summer before my freshman year

As a senior in high school, I was different than most of my peers because I only applied to two colleges.  Yup, two.  I looked at way more, but there were only two schools that I could really see myself at, and those were Bradley University and the University of Missouri - or Mizzou.  

These schools are so different from each other.  Mizzou is a huge state school that the majority of people in my hometown of St. Louis attend, and there's Bradley, which is a mid-sized, private university out of state, in Illinois.  Mizzou is an SEC school and game days and Homecoming are holidays there.  Bradley doesn't have a football team, and their homecoming is pretty lame (I love you Brads, but it's true).

All throughout my senior year, I knew I was going to Mizzou.  It was the first school I applied to, the first one I got in to, and the only one I posted an Instagram for when I visited and got accepted.  I received scholarships, and was basically ready to pack my bags and go.  My mom, even though she loved Mizzou too, wanted me to have other options.  I had looked at Bradley during my junior year, but my mom thought we should take one more look.  I really loved Bradley after that second visit.  Enough to apply, but not enough to beat out Mizzou.

My mom works at Saint Louis University, meaning that I get free tuition at certain schools, and Bradley was one of those schools.  So, of course, my mom was pushing me to go there so that I would graduate debt free.  I still loved Mizzou, though, and was pushing to head to Columbia, Missouri, the following fall. 

In the winter of my senior year, I literally switched off by week of where I was going.  One week I was all about Mizzou, the next I was all about Bradley.  Eventually, my parents and I sat down and talked about it, with them basically telling me that I would have to go to Bradley.  I was devastated to let go of my "big school" dream, but after a lot of thought, I knew that Bradley would be better for me.  It had the top program for my major in the nation (Sports Communications), a small school atmosphere, which I was used to having gone to private school all my life, and it would just be a better fit for my personality.

By spring I had all but forgotten about Mizzou, and officially committed to Bradley, declared my major, and was ready to go.  Of course some of my really good friends go to Mizzou and I go to visit them during football season.  Seeing the tailgates, the stadium, the beautiful dorms and campus, and how huge the Greek life is, I sometimes have that little voice in my head that asks, "What if I went here?"  Of course I'll always wonder, but I love my school, I love my major and minors that I have declared, I love my sorority and everyone in it, and I love my campus.  I am so privileged to go to Bradley, and genuinely can not believe that I only have one more year left there.