The summer sun hits the top of my head as I stand in shorts, converse and my black shirt that reads “Mizzou” with a large tiger head underneath it. My left hand carries a water bottle, while my right hand holds a folder filled with dozens of pamphlets, papers and letters all with “The University of Missouri” printed somewhere on them.

It’s my first college tour and I’m more excited than most of the kids. This is the place I’ve been hearing about for as long as I can remember. This is the place my mom called home for four years back in the early ‘90s.

From the T-shirts the few students walking around the nearly empty campus are wearing, to the street signs, everything is covered in black and gold. As my parents and I walk toward the building where the tour will start, I see a giant statue of the mascot, a Bengal tiger, and smile.

I’m only 15 and have plenty of time before I even need to start thinking about college, but inside I have a feeling I just found where I’m going to go.

Growing up I spent almost as much time in Missouri as I did at home in Texas. It’s where my mom grew up and where half my family lived, and after a while, I felt at home there as I did anywhere else.

When it came time to start looking into different colleges the first one that came to mind was Mizzou. I’d only been on the campus one time that I can remember before my tour, and even back then I loved it.

As senior year started rapidly approaching and the talk of colleges became more than just mindless conversations and actually began mattering, I started to change my mind. Maybe Mizzou wasn’t the place for me. Maybe I only loved it because it was the first college I’d ever been on a tour of. Maybe I only wanted to go there because my mom wanted me to. I started to look into other schools.

However, after four more college tours, seven applications, and lots of time freaking out about test scores, I started to realize maybe I was right back when I was 15. After my acceptance, I felt it even more.

Do I still occasionally have doubts about going to Mizzou? Absolutely. I’m going to be moving 10 hours away and leaving everyone and everything I know behind. I still sometimes wonder if I’m really in love with the school or if I’m just in love with the idea of it.

But every time I have doubts, I go online to the virtual tour of the campus and within minutes I realize that my doubts are unfounded. I look at all of the pictures of the school and know in my heart it’s where I want to spend the next four years of my life.

I can see myself walking down the sidewalks to classes, living in the dorms, hanging out with my friends in the student union. I can see myself building the foundations for the rest of my life there, and every time I think of that it makes me smile ear to ear.

While everyone else is stressing over applications and picking the schools that are right for them, I’m cruising through senior year with none of the worries. I’m just ready to be a tiger.