u/Ill-Introduction5187

I just kind of need to get this out and maybe hear from people who understand. I’ve been on a bit of a winding college path, and I’m feeling really behind compared to my friends right now. My first year of college, I went to Florida Southern College. I left after that year because I was really homesick and honestly didn’t feel like it was the right environment for me, so I decided to go back home. After that, I went to community college for a while. At that time, I wasn’t fully clear on what I wanted to do long-term, so I ended up taking longer than I expected to figure things out. Now I’m at Athens State University working toward my degree, but it’s not a super well-known performing arts program, and I’m majoring in something I do care about now—musical theatre/performance—but I still feel like I’m behind. My friends are graduating or already have their degrees, and I still have about two years left before I even finish my bachelor’s. What makes it harder is that I know I want to pursue musical theatre seriously. I want to train at a high level and eventually go for an MFA at a more prestigious program, but I feel like I started too late or took too many detours to be competitive. I keep comparing myself and it just makes me sad because I feel like I should already be further along by now. I’m proud of myself for figuring out what I actually want, but I also feel embarrassed about how long it’s taken me to get here.