August 18, 2013 by

Here are a few things I've learned in my first two weeks in college.

A few of you may already know this, but I'm off to college! Okay, that's not completely true. I'm actually already in college right now! I started about two weeks ago, and I'm friggin' loving it. But before I go more into detail about that, I'd like to address one thing first...

I've reached 500 followers! For a guy who never got Spotlight, I think that's pretty good! But yeah, I just want to thank you guys for supporting me all these years. I'm sure less than half of those people are still active now, but whatever. It's always good to see people appreciating what I do here on MyIGN.

YES! PARTY TIME!

But anyways, back to college. I'm studying Computer Science here at University of California, Irvine, which is quickly becoming not only one of the best universities in the United States, but in the world! And yes, we're still the number one university in America that's under 50 years old. Go Anteaters!

Anyways, enough of school pride. I kinda want to touch on my pre-university experience a bit, since I know a lot of my followers are currently either still in high school or just graduated. To be honest with you guys, I wasn't really planning on going to UCI at all. It was one of my "target" schools, but even so it was still about #6 on my list. Admittedly, I did apply to a lot of "reach" schools, but even so things didn't go as well as I had expected. I ended up having to choose between UCI, UC San Diego, and University of Southern California. USC was way too expensive. UCSD wouldn't give me the major I wanted. I ended up going to UCI.

At first, I was depressed. For weeks I just sat there doing nothing, wondering to myself what I did wrong. I was always a good student. I graduated as salutatorian of my class. I was vice president of my school's Interact Club. I was a part of class council. I got mostly 4's and 5's on my AP exams. What did I do to deserve this?

I don't... understand.

Looking back now, I was kind of an idiot back then. Sh*t happens, for better or for worse. To be honest, the college admissions procedure involves as much skill as it does luck. If I had graduated last year, I could have gotten the major I wanted at UCSD. Had I graduated five years ago, my stats would have easily gotten me into UC Berkeley. But now isn't 2008. The number of applications in the UC system has almost doubled since then. Going to college is now more competitive than ever. Tuition continues to increase at an unprecedented rate. It's ridiculous.

I'm not here to tell you guys that you aren't going to the college of your dreams. Rather, I'm here to say that no matter what college you end up going to, it's you who is in control of your future. I read a paper for my University Studies class just last week that talks about how people who believe they have control over their "fate" are more likely to succeed in college and beyond. I can't help but completely agree with that statement. Yes, I didn't get into the college I wanted. Yes, at times it felt like I had little to no control about my past. But that's the past; there's only so much you can do about it. Think about the future. Nothing can stop you from achieving your dream now.

When I visited UCI in April, I fell in love with the campus. I loved everything about it. Today, as I enter my third week at UCI, I'm almost in complete disbelief that I'd ever doubted my decision to come to this amazing institution. The number of friends I have made these past two weeks is almost overwhelming. I love UCI. If you told me that four months ago, I would have slapped you.

And to be honest, this goes well beyond college applications. You want to be a writer for IGN? Work for it. Find some freelance jobs. Start a website. Join your school's editorial team. Want to be a game developer for Nintendo? Take some programming classes. Participate in game jams. Read up on game theory. Do yourself a favor and commit yourself to accomplishing your dream, regardless of what the past may tell you.

Yeah! Screw the haters!

But enough of these life lessons. The reason why I wanted to write this blog was because I wanted to tell you how MyIGN fits into my new-found college life. Some of you guys may have already noticed that I've been a lot less active on this site since college began. I'm trying to go outside more, take advantage of what UCI has to offer. That also means I'll be gaming a bit less. Perhaps you won't notice a change. Perhaps I'm not even here that often in the first place. Whatever the case, I thought it would be nice for you guys to know. I'm in college. I'm a grown-up. Hell yeah!

Thanks for reading this semi-serious, GIF-tastic personal blog, guys. I still plan on blogging at least once a week, so stay tuned! And as always, keep on keeping it cool guys!

~Battlestriker123

P.S.: Do you want a free game? Here's a Steam code for Mirror's Edge: 7H830-KEZ59-8JFZQ. Just a little something for you guys who are following me. Thanks for all the support!

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