When I was first applying to schools, Texas A&M was not in the cards for me. Some hick little “yee-yee” town in Texas was not the school that appealed to a city girl from Austin. All my life it was expected that I would go to Brigham Young University, or BYU. It was the obvious choice for someone of my faith … ha ha, yea, that one. 
The road to BYU was paved for me. My dad was going to pay for my education, I was going to be surrounded by a religious community with dress codes, curfews and lots and lots (and lots) of weddings. I would meet a returning missionary, get married by 19, have five kids by 22 and live happily ever after. It soon became very clear to me that that was not the path I wanted to take in my life. I have plenty of friends that go there and love it, but it didn’t feel like the place for me. 

The only problem with going anywhere else was that I was going to have to pay for my own education. Which made out-of-state schools not likely. This left me with only two Texas schools that even remotely caught my eye: t.u. and A&M. A quick, “You can live at home if you go to UT” was all it took to cross that one off the roster.

So A&M it was. 

And I didn’t get in. Well … technically.
I got the PSA program which is where you can attend a sister school for a year, and then transfer with automatic admittance after completion of the program. Full disclosure: I was pretty embarrassed to not get in, but it ended up being the best thing for me. And after finishing my freshman year at A&M-Corpus Christi (aka “the crust” by college students and locals), I finally got to A&M … during peak COVID-19. 
Online classes, no Fish Camp, no sports pass and no real knowledge of Aggie traditions. I couldn’t even call myself a two percenter –– I didn’t know what that was. It was only when I met my redass Corps of Cadets boyfriend in the second half of sophomore year that I began to embrace the Aggie culture. And no … I was not a boot chaser. He was a sophomore. Therefore, I was a boot investor. 

He taught me the traditions and got me to embrace the culture of A&M. And now I’m proud to attend every game, stand and wave my 12th Man towel. I avoid walking on the seals, respect the century tree, do horns down (sorry mom) and Whoop on my class year. The Aggie Ring didn’t mean much coming into A&M, but it means a lot to me as I’m preparing to leave it. 

I look forward to leaving college as a proud former student of A&M.   

I am a recovered two percenter and a proud Aggie, Class of 2023. A-Whoop!