When I first started my college search, I was convinced I wanted to go to a big school—one with tens of thousands of students, the type of school where it was basically its own small city. I pictured college exactly the way it’s shown in movies, grand lecture halls, and endless sea of students on the quad, and a vibrant campus life. I thought that was the “real” college experience, the one everyone wanted…or at least the one I thought I was supposed to want.
As I continued my search, I realized the environments that felt the most exciting on the outside were the same ones where I felt the least seen. I remember standing in a crowd during one visit, feeling myself fade into the background, as if my story didn’t matter there. What I thought I wanted wasn’t what I needed.
As a first-generation student navigating a process no one in my family had done before, I needed more than just academics, I needed guidance, support, and a community. That’s exactly what I found at Susquehanna University.
From the moment I stepped on campus, there was a strong sense of belonging I hadn’t felt anywhere else. Faculty and staff spoke to me like they already believed in my potential, students were genuinely welcoming, and campus didn’t feel like a place where I would just take classes, it felt like a place that saw who I was, and who I could become.
Choosing a smaller school ended up giving me everything I didn’t even know I needed. With only 2,200 primarily residential students, Susquehanna feels like a close-knit, vibrant community where people genuinely know and support one another. I experienced that even before I enrolled. On my tour, I sat in on one of Dr. Peeler’s classes, and when I had her again during my first semester, she remembered my name. She had only met me once, but that small moment meant the world to me. It set the tone for what SU would become for me—a place where people truly see you. This type of environment gave me close relationships with faculty and staff, opportunities to step into leadership roles, undergraduate research early in my college career, and a support system that has shaped me academically, professionally, and personally.
If you’re searching for a college and haven’t felt seen yet, keep asking questions about support, belonging, mentorship, and community. Don’t convince yourself to fit somewhere that doesn’t fit you. Choose the campus that chooses you back.
I didn’t choose Susquehanna because it matched what I thought college was supposed to look like, I chose it because it felt like home.