A Fork in the Road - Essay

Allen West
10/2/2012
A Fork in the Road
Most people come to a point in their lives when they must make a big decision that can change the entire direction that their lives will go. A typical time for this to happen for a young adult is at the age when some will either go to college or not. It also may occur if the start of college doesn’t exactly go turn out to be like what you thought it would be, and you are stuck with them dilemma of what comes next, what should I do? An important choice must be made, but how do you know if it will be the right one? You don’t for sure. I was faced with this exact situation this past year in college, and it was a tough decision to make. It is a journey that eventually led me to become a transfer student at Monroe College. I thought that my beginning as a student athlete at Niagara University would be right for me, but it wasn’t that easy after all. Going to a division one college and playing on the basketball team was a dream of mine for many years. I worked so hard to get there both in the classroom, with tutors, and of course as a high school athlete playing basketball with my teams to get recruited. Most people don’t realize just how difficult and competitive it is to get a division one scholarship to college. They assume that it is all about skill in sports, but it is much more than that. You must score well enough on the SAT exam and have more than just passing grades in a minimum of 16 classes, as well as graduate high school on time. Playing and keeping up with academics during high school is challenging. You must make the N.C.A.A. requirements to play division 1 basketball, and remain eligible once you get there.

I made it! I was excited that I got there on a full athletic scholarship. I had proven to myself and my family that I was good enough. Niagara was glad to have me on the team. Now the only problem was I found myself not feeling the same about being there. It wasn’t what I expected at all, the team, the location, or college life. Here I was at a fork in the road, which way do I go now? The coach could tell my unhappiness so we had a meeting. I chose to leave Niagara after one semester but what next? Ultimately I decided to take credits part time at a community college in Florida, Broward College. This allowed me to maintain the credits I needed for a division 1 transfer, while I explored a better program to play for. I was granted my release letter from Niagara that allows me to transfer to another division 1 school. That didn’t pan out soon enough though. After playing this summer’s tournaments I decided to go to Monroe and get my Associates Degree in business and do a 4-2-4 transfer back to a division 1 program next year. I have offers and schools that want me, plus I may get more later from exposure playing for Monroe College. In the end I believe that I will have the best outcome on this twisted road path. It takes forks in the road sometimes to get to the best decision in the end.