You may be wondering how I got here. Back in high school I had no real idea of what I planned on doing and was in a general whirlwind of confusion when it came to picking a college and a major. Most people seemed to have figured it out, but I couldn’t say the same.

I would like to say I ended up studying Stats & CS here because of fate, but the truth is that it was a complete accident. Being out of state, I knew virtually nothing about Illinois except that a friend I knew enjoyed her time there. That seemed good enough for me to apply. I enjoyed my high school computer science class, so naturally I leaned towards that major. I was looking to select it on the application for Illinoi until I was bombarded by what seemed like a million different options. CS + Agriculture, CS & Math, CS + linguistics, and the list just kept going. And then I came across CS & Stats. At the time, I was taking stats in high school and had generally enjoyed it, so half-heartedly clicked it as my intended major and pressed submit.

Months later, after I had even forgotten that I applied as Stats & CS, I received my acceptance. I initially dismissed Illinois and remember laughing with my friends about the miles and miles of cornfields surrounding the school. But, I was close to a few of my teachers in high school and when I told them that I had gotten into the program, they immediately urged me to consider it. I remember reviewing the curriculum with one teacher, who told me it’d be a great opportunity for me and I’d probably really enjoy it. This got my gears turning, “What if I actually went there?”

The more I looked into it, the more I envisioned myself going there. Many of the graduates I saw online went to work in cool fields (sports analytics & financial technology) and lived in cool places (NY!). This continued to fuel my excitement. After talking it over with my parents and reaching out to a couple of students I knew on campus, my concerns about the location and the overall program began fading away. I truly started believing I could enjoy my life in the cornfields. By early April, I made my decision: I was going to Illinois.

Between enrolling and the first day of class, two events really reassured my decision. Firstly, I attended one of the Admitted Students days on campus. My gut reaction was that it shouldn’t be this cold in April. But as I talked to my fellow admitted students, many of them expressed admiration about the program I was going to be a part of and I learned more about the school. I would definitely recommend attending one of these events. The second event was my freshman registration meeting with my advisor, Jen. As I hadn’t really taken a math or a computer science class in the past year, I was a little worried about how I’d be doing. Senioritis was at an all time high and I retained almost no information. She encouraged me to take all the introductory classes and reassured me that I would be in a great learning environment with tons of other freshmen from out of state, further reducing my concerns about attending.

Now that I’m about to graduate, I could not be more grateful for that seemingly random decision to apply to be a part of statistics at Illinois. I’ve not once thought about changing my major. This program has taught me everything I could have asked for and has given me access to opportunities my high school self couldn’t even think of. For prospective students, my advice is to reach out to current students or advisors to help answer any questions or concerns you may have about the school or college in general. People here are extremely friendly and I’m sure they’ll do a great job of helping you figure out what you could potentially get out of being at Illinois.