I know that the title probably upset quite a few of you, and while I do believe that it doesn’t matter where you go to college, it might take some convincing for you to believe it too.

I’m attending the University of New Hampshire this coming fall as an art major. Right off the bat, I feel a desire to explain to you, as I explain to everyone, exactly how I ended up there: my grandma lives in New England and we have to move to be closer to her, I got into colleges with much lower acceptance rates, money was an important factor, etc. 

But I dish out this kind of explanation every time someone asks me about where I’m going to school and, to be honest, it’s because I’m embarrassed. 

I work hard and I’m a good student, but I didn’t take the hardest math classes or as many APs as I possibly could. You would be surprised at the amount of students here who are very judgmental of the path I decided to take. Because of that judgment, I wanted so badly to prove them wrong, to prove that academics aren’t everything and you can still go somewhere “impressive,” except that that school rejected me. 

I was crushed. My dream school didn’t want me, and now I have to go to the school dead last on my list. Rutgers, my second choice, gave me no financial aid, and Temple, my third choice, would become almost impossible to attend with my parents moving nearly eight hours away. 

I appear to be the perfect candidate to be telling you that where you go to school doesn’t really matter. 

Now, yes, it’s true that higher ranked schools have better networking opportunities, and they look very impressive on a resume. But I find the idea that somehow the education is just so much better than that of other, less selective schools, to be frustrating. 

My department chair at UNH, Benjamin Cariens, has an M.F.A. from Boston University, an M.T.S. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from William and Mary. He teaches the majority of arts courses that I will be taking during my time at UNH. 

A Harvard graduate is teaching at my state university. Do his teachings matter less because they’re coming from UNH? Absolutely not. 

My biggest problem with this idea that you have to go to a top school, is that we completely ignore the fact that so many other factors go into choosing a college. I wanted to go to Rutgers very badly, but they simply didn’t provide me with the means to be able to go. Everyone has different circumstances they experience when it comes to college. I felt shame about my commitment for a long time, until I realized that my education isn’t any less important or valid just because my school has a high acceptance rate. My bottom-of-the-list school was someone else’s top choice, and these kinds of experiences are ones that Haven often forgets. 

If you’re a senior, no matter where you’re going to college, or if you’re taking another path, congratulations. If you’re younger, keep in mind that the most prestigious school isn’t always right for you, and sometimes finding your fit means applying to schools and ignoring others’ expectations to figure out what you can truly expect of yourself.

I know how this environment can be, but don’t let it overwhelm you or shy you away from the things you truly care about. Choose the college that’s right for you, not the one that will impress the most people. 

And yes, I truly do believe it doesn’t matter where you go to college; it matters what you make of it. 

Each opinion represented in The Panther Press is the view and voice of the writer. Opinions, as the selection and curation of content by the editors, do not represent the views of the entire Panther Press staff, the adviser, the school, or the administration.