Deciding on which college

One passage that was helpful to me in my process of application/audition/acceptance at Eastman was on pg. 419—“Your true course is to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Truth, and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone are real and harmonious.” I came to Rochester my senior year for a two-week domestic exchange program. I attended a high school in Rochester for the two-week period, stayed with a host family, and sat in on some classes/had a couple lessons at Eastman. I had no motive of applying to Eastman—I just thought it sounded like a fun thing to do senior year. In the middle of that two-week stay, I went to the Rochester CS church, and the current first reader was my Sunday School teacher. I told her why I was in town and expressed the feeling that I was interested in applying to go to Eastman, but the deadline had been Dec. 1, and it was now a week or two after that deadline. That above passage was in the lesson that week and we talked about how “destroying the foe” meant taking any necessary human steps to check out all of the options (destroying the argument that it was too late and there was nothing I could do about it) and then leaving it open for God to lead me down the right path. A day or two later, I stopped by the admissions office and spoke to one of the counselors—told him my story and that I wanted to apply but knew it was past the deadline. He said not to worry about the deadline—just get the info to him before I left town. I told him I didn’t have teacher recommendations/a transcript etc. with me, and he said to provide whatever I could and send him the rest when I got home. I did, and my parents and I came back to Rochester in February for an audition and interview. The whole time, I think my parents thought I was a little nuts, but they could tell I was being led, so they were supportive and encouraging. I had the audition and interview, and I had absolutely no sense of whether or not I did well or would get in, but I felt like I had completed what was necessary humanly and again, I could leave the field to God. I applied to other schools and had basically decided on one, when I heard from Eastman that I was accepted. I wasn’t sure what to do because I was happy with the school I had decided on, but I tried to remember how I felt when I had been in Rochester—it had felt like it was the right place for me with the right opportunities and places for growth. And now God had opened up the path for me. So I decided to go to Eastman, and I have found so many ways to grow and meet new people and learn—I’m so grateful for this!
-Lauren