Getting In, Part One

As I muddle through the college admissions process with my daughter, I can't help but think of my own journey to "the college of my choice," which seems like a very long time ago. I remember only some of the "high points"--the days pre-common app and computer, when we struggled to make sure my typed essay would fit in the given box for each school, the campus visits and overnights, the rejections and the admissions (I don't actually remember all of these--just that I eventually got in where I wanted).
 
Now, years later, as my daughter ponders how her choices and the outcomes of the process will affect the rest of her life, I wonder how my life would have been different, had the process and outcomes been different.
 
Would I have been happy somewhere else? Probably. If I have learned nothing else in my life, I have certainly learned that we can adapt to just about anything. I would have had different courses and different activities and different friends, and because of all that, a different family now, but at the time, I imagine I would have adapted.
 
Would a clearer picture of what I wanted to do have changed my choices, my process, my path? As I watch my daughter, who seems far more focused than I remember being at the time, I wonder if I could have anticipated better, with courses and contacts that might have fit better for where I ended up. And then I realize that sometimes, where you end up is really all about the path you wander, rather than about the plan you originally had.
 
As we continue through the many month process, I'm sure there will be reflection and doubt, excitement and disappointment throughout. We can't always know where what we think of as successes and failures in the present will take us in the future. For now, it feels all about "getting in." But down the road, it's more than just the "getting in" that will ensure that we "get ahead."