Every year there seems to be an abundance of KHS seniors that will be attending Mizzou the upcoming fall, and everyone makes it out to be a bad thing. Comments such as, “Your high school reputation will follow you,” “Everyone from Kirkwood goes there” and “You won’t meet new people” are tossed the new Tigers’ way.

I knew I would be attending Mizzou after I went there with a couple of friends for a football game earlier this year. I applied to tons of other schools, but every time I went on a college visit I compared the school to Mizzou. Game day was not the same. The rec center wasn’t the same. Greek life wasn’t the same. None of the other schools measured up to what I experienced at Mizzou.

Finding the right school is like finding the right prom dress. There are a lot of options and most of them work, but when the right dress is on, you feel it. That sounds cliché, but it’s true.

After about 70 percent of my friends decided they were attending Mizzou too, I almost burst into tears of joy. Most of us have experienced the awkward stages of middle school and the beginning of high school together. Having that support system starting off college will help through the huge transition. Although none of us will be rooming together, it is beyond comforting to know my friends of at least six years will be with me next year.

So to my freshman-year self and all other underclassmen doubting Mizzou, I would like to say this: yes, there are a lot of St. Louis kids that end up there, but you most likely will not run into them considering there are 35,441 people on campus. Yes,you will be close to home, but that means whenever you miss your parents or the beautiful halls of KHS you are only a two hour Megabus drive away.