#1 Trust Your Gut

"You have been accepted to the First Year Engineering program at Purdue University."

My stomach dropped & a sense of pride overcame myself as I quickly scanned the remnants of the letter. However after that first sentence, I don't remember much. Prior to any admission letters being sent, I remember my parents highlighting it was alright if I wasn't accepted to Purdue as they tried to help manage expectations. But I did it. This was a huge accomplishment.

The topic of picking a college is a big one for juniors & seniors in high school. Not only do you need to pick a school but you need to be accepted by that school as well. Also, prior to submitting your application, it's often a good idea to see if the school is a good fit & somewhere you can see yourself spending the next 4 year of your life (4.5 for yours truly).

I was fortunate enough to tour a number of schools: University of Missouri, University of Chicago Loyola, Miami (OH) University, Purdue University, & Marquette University. This was extremely beneficial as I was able to learn firsthand experience from a number of students as well as try to imagine myself a part of the community.

For my college decision process, it came down to two schools: Purdue University & the University of Missouri. For background, both of my parents went to Mizzou & is where they met each other across the lunchroom but that story is for another day. Mizzou was the in-state school where a number of my friends were attending. I also grew up going to home football games as well as had family in the Columbia, Missouri area. This engineering program was brand new to the university & somewhere I could thrive as a top student in the mechanical engineering program. It was the familiar terrain.

On the latter side, Purdue University was the more expensive out-of-state option. Known for being a very difficult engineering program with no guarantees of getting into the specific discipline of engineering desired. When I toured the West Lafayette campus, it was freezing cold in the middle of January. I knew two other people attending but for the most part it was foreign to me.

The safe, familiar option was Mizzou and on paper there was nothing wrong if I decided to go there. However, my gut was telling me to take a chance. Deep down, I knew I wanted the academic challenge of Purdue where nothing was guaranteed. That fired me up. I believed I was capable of handling the challenge & wanted the new experience. Therefore, when I received my Purdue acceptance letter I knew it was game on & I was going to be a Boilermaker.

While at Purdue, I came face-to-face with no guarantees. After my freshmen year, I missed getting into the school of mechanical engineering by 0.08 on my GPA . I didn't let that stop me. The next semester I decided to stay behind within the first year program as a sophomore to continue on the path that felt right in my gut. After my third semester at Purdue, I was then accepted into the ME school & after 4.5 years received my Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University finishing with a 3.38 GPA.

I tell this story because if I hadn't trusted my gut I wouldn't have gotten that degree.

I wouldn't have made the friends that I did from my college experience.

I wouldn't have my current job in Colorado without attending Purdue.

Life would have possibly been very different.

At times, everyone experiences tough "fork in the road" decisions. In these scenarios, it is important to weight the options but it's also imperative to listen to what your body is saying. I like to think my gut is looking at the bigger picture for me. Having the confidence to trust your gut is an important life skill.

In the end, trusting your gut is about honoring the quiet wisdom within yourself, blending intuition with reason to navigate life’s uncertainties with confidence and clarity.