When she reached the front door, her mom was pacing around the kitchen. She yelled, “WHY DIDN’T YOU EMAIL ME?!” before Alexandra even got the chance to say anything. “Mom, I got in!!!” Both of them immediately burst into tears.

While Alexandra may have been conflicted about whether she wanted to go to USC solely because of her parents, this moment helped her realize how important this was to her too. Soon enough, instead of yelling at her for hogging the landline in order to talk to friends, Alexandra’s parents will be begging her not to hang up the dormitory phone so they can hear about every single detail. Alexandra’s extra hours emailing admissions officers in the library paid off, which will make her extra hours studying in the USC library even more worth it.

To read more stories like Alexandra's, click here.