College is hard, or at least picking out the right college. Does the school have a good financial plan? Is the campus safe? Does this college have good majors to choose from? How far from home is the college? These factors, among many others, are important questions a student will find themselves asking. Right in the middle of the this college journey is senior Triston Dees.

Dees was accepted into his dream school,Baylor University, in the winter of 2017. Although Dees will be attending Baylor in the fall of this year as a freshman, his college journey did not end when he read his acceptance letter. Instead, things became even more hectic.

¨I have always wished and worked towards being able to go to Baylor,¨ Dees said. ¨I want to get out of Amarillo, see other communities, and just find out who I am. College is the best way to do that.¨

According to Dees, Baylor, although his first choice, is not the only college he applied to. Just in case he did not get into Baylor, Dees said he applied to The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor, ¨a branch of Baylor (that is) cheaper and easier to get into.¨ However, now that he has been accepted into his dream college, the next step is paying for it.

¨Baylor is really expensive,¨ Dees said. ¨Mary-Hardin would have paid for the majority of my first year of college, but they did not have the appropriate classes; I would rather pay more and get a better education.¨

Dees said one of the factors that played into his decision was the classes each school offered. Ever since he was a young child, Dees wanted to be a doctor, an aspiration that has continued into his high school career as he is actively enrolled in the school´s health sciences program. According to Dees, attending a school with a good medical program was key, so this made Baylor, despite being the most expensive choice, his number one college. Yet, even with tuition fees and loans to take out, Dees focus is what his life will be like at college.

¨Coffee is already my bff, but I imagine I will be studying 99% of the time, maybe some parties,¨ Dees said. ¨School comes first, though. There is a biology club that I plan to be a part of, and there is also Circle K, which is basically the college version of Key Club.¨

Another factor to add in before making a decision is to tour the college. Touring the college, Dees said, helped to elucidate any questions he had and get a general understanding of where everything is. However, traveling to Waco, Texas where Baylor is located showed Dees how far the school is from his home.

¨Baylor is seven hours away,¨ Dees said. ¨Some good points of that would be I am seven hours away, so I will have a lot more freedom. (Some) bad points would be that I am far from family and my home.¨

According to Dees, the newfound freedom he will receive as a college student is what he is looking forward to most. Dees said he also looks forward to having more time to do things he wants to do.

¨I chose this college (Baylor) because it will provide a better education for what I plan to do in the future,¨ Dees said. ¨(The best part of college is) knowing that I am going to be doing something fun and interesting with my life.¨