On a fundamental level, I am designed to taste things. I have to try it, and get a good taste for something, to know for sure if I like it or not. To see for myself if its a good fit.
Although, there are moments when my intuition beats my sense of taste to the punch, and instinctively knows if something is right for me; or if its unhealthy, dangerous, or a bad fit instead.
And there are moments when my overthinking obnoxious brain second guesses my never-wrong, powerful intuition… and things never go well when I do.
My experience with college has been an exercise in listening to my intuition, even if it makes no sense to anyone else. I mean, for those of us powered by strong intuition and truly live by it, we know that intuition and instincts are not governed by logic and do not require “sense making” to be on point and completely relevant to us.
My intuition, when it came time to graduate from community college and the possibilities of transfer came around, told me that while I would love the experience of going abroad or to a bigger institution further away – my credit score and financial health probably would strongly disagree. Considering community college was practically free for me (even if it was a mediocre experience), and I qualified for maximum grants for much of my tuition, I wanted to keep the loans and borrowing to a minimum. So, I considered colleges in the small states right in my own backyard here in New England. Those being Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
My heart (and my HD environment) has been called by the forests and valleys of western Massachusetts, but the circumstances at the time – with the pandemic raging and my little nephew coming into the world to my sister, a single mother… it didn’t feel right to move hours away. Even if it was somewhat familiar territory. With that being said, the only college that piqued my interests, aligned with my original major, didn’t have Harvard level tuition fees, and was close enough to commute to with a beautiful campus was the University of Rhode Island. A part from not being in Europe, it checked the majority of my boxes and felt right.
Now, for a short backstory; I had originally matriculated here in the Spring of 2021 after taking some time off to see what was going to play out with the first year of the pandemic rolling over into the second with no end in sight. So, I caved and applied for Spring transfer. However, unfortunately, weeks into the Spring semester I was already feeling the burn out from community college and the last 8 to 10 months of lock down and social distancing – and then tragedy stuck when we lost the maternal family matriarch to the corona virus the week of my birthday. To mourn, and for mental health reasons, I decided to withdraw.
I don’t regret it in the long term.
It sucked, knowing that by now I could be gradating with my BA already, but I needed to focus on mental health. As in the convening time, I discovered that my struggles were linked to undiagnosed ADHD and complex PTSD that I was now failing to mask or manage with the stress levels so high and my delicate workarounds now shattered. Basically, I was foundering with no life rafts.
I now have the professional diagnoses, therapy, and ways to manage everything better.
After that, I made the mistake of switching to Rhode Island College for a semester against my intuition. There are a whole host of reasons why I didn’t like it the experience. From the small mediocre campus to the small Anthropology department with limited offerings, to the teachers and staff who behaved incredibly unprofessionally at times, to the fact it was in Providence (can’t stand that city, I avoid it as much as possible)… it just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Nope. Nope. Nope. No, but thank you anyways.
I knew then if I was going finish this damn Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, it was going to have to be at URI like I had originally intended. The campus has glorious light and dark academia vibes, a rich history, surrounded by forested area, minutes from the coast with a campus in Narraganestt Bay, has a well developed Anthropology department that recently merged with the Sociology department to make it even bigger, employs incredible professionals active in their field, and has a high transfer population with a Transfer Center for support.
Plus the drive down from where I live is breathtaking, especially in the fall and spring. Whether I take Route 4 & 2 to the main entrance and the commuter lot near the Fine Arts Center or the back roads to the back entrance near Flagg Road and more commuter parking.
So, I feel good about returning to the University of Rhode Island for the rest of my Bachelor’s degree experience. Thankfully, I only have five semesters left (due to taking 12 credits instead of 15 per semester) but that’s plenty of time to focus on Anthropology and Art, networking, friends, and a side projects coming to life in the meantime!
I hope that anyone else going back to college this fall is having fun preparing in the last few days, and that anyone considering going back to college takes the leap. I’ll be here if you have questions or need support through the process.