Hail, All Hail, TCU!

Zach and I left Kansas City on Wednesday and drove south to Fort Worth, TX to spend a week with his family. We decided to visit TCU's campus while we were here because they've been building a lot and we wanted to see all the changes. It was so neat to be back on campus at the place where we spent four fantastic years, but the place really has changed a lot. Four new dorms are being built in the middle of campus, plus a new student center. The beloved Frog Fountain is still the centerpiece of campus, although it's been cleaned up a lot. It was never this shiny while we were there!
As we exited the freeway on our way to campus, I was reminded of the first time I visited TCU with my mom. Can it really have been almost ten years ago? If you don't know the story of how I ended up at TCU, read on. It is one of the clearest examples in my life of God leading me in a specific direction.

From the time I was a sophomore in high school, I really wanted to go to Rice University. I really, really, really wanted to go there. Rice is pretty tough to get into but I thought I had the grades, test scores, extracurriculars, etc. to get in. I applied for early admission and was absolutely devastated when I learned in February that they were deferring my decision to the regular admission pool.

I realized at that point that I was not happy with the other schools I had applied to. So, I decided to apply to TCU. Yes, just that suddenly. I had no real reason. I truly believe God placed the thought in my mind because that's where I needed to be. I know I had gotten mail from TCU during high school (along with dozens of other schools) but I had never given them any special thought. When I announced this intention to my parents, I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but being the supportive parents they are, they did everything they could to help me. They made calls to the admission office to find out how I could apply within the admission deadline (which was that week) and faxed my application for me so it would arrive on time.

A few weeks later I received an acceptance letter from TCU along with a t-shirt and a small scholarship offer. (I applied weeks after the scholarship deadline, so that was a big surprise.) The t-shirt may not seem like a big deal, but to me it represented a school that wanted me there enough to send a little token like that. Mom and I visited TCU during my Spring Break and while we were there I decided to accept the admission offer. TCU was the right size school with the right majors in the right kind of city.

I have not regretted that decision for a single minute in the past ten years. God worked in my life in so many ways during those four years--I am so thankful for the crazy decision He led me to make!