King's College!

I know I'm giving away a bit about my location here, but I trust that none of you are creepy stalkers!  (If I'm wrong and any of you are creepy stalkers, please don't stalk me.)

Because of Lora's misbehavior in the spring, I fell badly behind in my schoolwork at Bloomsburg University and ended up having to withdraw.  I took care of her so much that it felt like I was her mother.  She and Kyle actually did call me "Mom" because I fussed over her so much, and even Bryan jumped in on it.  I was truly the mom of our little group.

When I left Bloom, I thought nothing of it.  I expected to go back during the summer semester and start all over.  Unfortunately, that's not how it went.  I had spoken to the bursar's office, the financial aid office, and the registar's office, desperately trying to make sure I wouldn't owe anything for my withdrawal.  I was told that because it was before the official withdrawal date, I would be perfectly fine.  So imagine my surprise when an $1800 bill came in the mail several weeks later!

I called, sure it was a mistake, only to be told that they'd had to send part of my loan money back to the government because of my withdrawal and I owed the balance.  When I asked why I hadn't been told that before I withdrew, no one could give me an answer.

My heart was shattered.  I loved Bloomsburg.  I loved the people I'd met, the teachers I'd had, the classes I'd taken, everything about it.  The atmosphere was perfect.  Having grown up in the shadow of campus (just a few blocks away!), I'd dreamed of attending my entire life.  Now, because of her behavior and my decision to indulge her, I would never get to finish my degree there.

For a few weeks, I sat in despair.  Kyle, who holds a masters degree in chemistry and believes that a college degree is the best thing anyone can obtain, pushed me to try other schools...but I couldn't.  My spirit was so thoroughly crushed that I couldn't do anything but sit and believe my future was over.  It was melodramatic, I know, but I was so upset.

Finally, after the initial shock had passed, I began to think.  We'd recently moved farther away from Bloomsburg, so the campus was just as far of a drive as any of the schools in nearby Wilkes-Barre.  Those schools, all private institutions, were more expensive, but there was no reason I shouldn't try for them.  I applied at King's College (Kyle's alma mater and my first choice), Misericordia University, and Wilkes University.  I wasn't expecting much, to be honest.  I'm a good student, pulling down an average GPA of 3.6, but I figured my withdrawal would work against me.

So imagine my surprise when I got the acceptance letter from Misericordia two weeks after my applications were sent in!  The acceptance from King's followed on May 16th (my mommy's birthday), and the acceptance from Wilkes followed at the beginning of June.  Having been accepted to all three, I had a choice to make.  I did my research, asked questions of all the alumni I knew from each college, and finally made the choice I'd known was the inevitable one all along.

I was going to be a King's College student!

Kyle was thrilled, though he never came out and said so.  He couldn't say enough about how much he loved the school, how good it was, and how great the professors were.  When I told him I'd have to take analytical chemistry (he is an analytical chemist) to get my minor in chemistry, he talked for several hours about the professor who teaches that class and how much he loved him.

Tomorrow I go to take my testing (which seems unnecessary, since my SAT scores were very high) and schedule my classes.  I can't wait!  Here is a little background about my chosen college from the Wikipedia page:

King's College, formally The College of Christ the King, is a liberal arts college located in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, King's has been ranked among the best colleges in the nation by U.S. News and World Report for 16 straight years. Barron's Best Buys in College Education selected King's as one of the top 10% of colleges in the United States.^[3] King’s College ranked 366 out of the 600 best colleges in the nation according to Forbes Magazine. It's the only school in Luzerne County to make the list. According to Forbes, the college ranked number one in Northeastern Pennsylvania, scoring higher than the University of Scranton.^[4] The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognized King's innovative and effective service and service learning programs. The American Association of Colleges and Universities' Greater Expectations Initiative named the college as one of only 16 "Leadership Institutions" nationwide. The John Templeton Foundation Honor Roll for Character-Building Colleges recognized King's in its select group of 100 colleges nationwide.

I always knew King's was a good school, but I didn't know it was that good...truth be told, I'm intimidated.I hope I can live up to the standards they expect from the students they accept.  I'm going to be studying biology with a double minor in chemistry and molecular biology.  My dream career is in microbiology, but I'll see where life takes me.  I just want to be a scientist.

As lame as it is, I can't wait to go back to school shopping!  I need a new backpack.

Anyway, it's just about dinner time here in our house, so I should finish up.  I just wanted to let you guys know about this, since I'm really, really excited to have such an excellent opportunity to achieve my dream!

All my love!
J