Aneka Elizabeth

Three years ago Aneka was rejected from Santa Clara University and as she said in her Instagram post “it felt like the end of the world to me.” She then went to West Valley and Mission Colleges and slowly “built her spirits back up.” She was then accepted to UC San Diego as a Marine Biology major. “I never, not once, in my whole life thought I would land at a UC. But I’ve never, not once in my whole life, felt like I belonged somewhere more than I do right now here in La Jolla.”

Aneka’s advice is simple: “Where you start is not necessarily where you will end up. Getting rejected from your dream college does not mean that your life is over or that you’re a failure. If I hadn’t ended up at the wrong college, I wouldn’t have dropped out and taken a Marine Bio class. Who knows, I might have stuck with psychology… I’m so happy and so thank for where I am… Also, community college is GREAT!... You are not your admission status.”