After I’d penned yesterday’s post about certainty in reverse, I heard from a former student who’s living proof of that concept. Here’s her story, shared with her permission.

Jessie was a student of mine in the class of 2006. She was the consummate good kid–smart, nice, and likeable, not at the top of her class, but certainly an earnest worker. A self-described artsy kid. Here’s a snippet from her college essay:

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved experimenting with art. I’ll pick up whatever is laying around my room and try to see what I can make with it. I’ve gone through the “painting with nail polish” phase to covering my wall with all black and white sharpie drawings. I’ll draw a beautiful sunset one day and create an abstract mess of colors the next. I even incorporate art into my non-art assignments. When I turn in an essay, I create a cover page with my own drawing. When I do an in-class presentation, I make a movie. I love expression. It’s what makes everyone an individual, and I want to express myself to the max.

Jessie applied to a range of colleges where she could study art. But she also decided to take a shot at the newly launched and already highly competitive film school at Chapman University.

And she got in.

In fact, Jessie ended up with a great problem—she was admitted to two reach schools that happened to be the colleges she most wanted to attend: Chapman, and Lewis and Clark in Portland. I was sure she was going to happily head to the Pacific Northwest, as Lewis and Clark seemed like the perfect fit.

But Jessie was leaning towards Chapman since she’d received the good news. I remember her mother had some concerns that film school might be too narrow for her, that Jessie might end up missing out on the opportunity to really explore her other artistic interests. But Jessie was mature. She’d always been engaged in her college process. She’d earned the trust to make that decision on her own. And kudos to Jamie’s parents, they let their daughter decide where to spend the next four years. Off to Chapman Film School she went.

Here we are, ten years later. Since graduating from Chapman in 2010, Jessie has built up a staggering portfolio of paid projects, from website design for entities ranging from private chefs to large real estate companies, to documentary films about humanitarian efforts in Ecuador and Cambodia, to her own photography that she sells on the internet. In fact, she is now the proud owner of her own successful Los Angeles-based design studio, JBH Design and Film.

This summer will be a big one for Jessie. She’s getting married to “an amazing guy.” And yes, they met at Chapman Film School.

I think Jessie’s story here is applicable for seniors who are struggling with their college decisions, underclassmen who are nervous about getting into the most famous colleges, and parents who feel the need to manage the process for their kids.

Smart, nice kids who are engaged in their college process, especially those with supportive parents who trust their kids to direct their own futures, almost always end up OK no matter where they go to college.

Do I, and the other counselors at Collegewise, also have stories about kids where things didn’t work out at their colleges? Yes, we do. Some kids change their minds once they get to college. Some decide that what they thought they wanted at age 18 doesn’t hold up at age 20, and they transfer schools. But they account for a tiny percentage of the 8,000 kids we’ve helped. That’s not a plug for Collegewise. That’s a plug for letting kids find their own way.

Jessie and her family didn’t try to draw a straight line to connect her interests in high school, the college she would attend, and her future career. That might be a good strategy for some kids, especially those who are going to college for the purpose of pursuing a specific career they’re already certain about. But for many more, college is the place where they explore their interests, develop or discover their talents, and have those experiences that can’t be described on the websites or predicted when signing the paperwork.

Would things have worked out if Jessie had gone to Lewis and Clark? Probably—it’s about what you do while in college, after all.

But she wouldn’t have the life—or the fiancé—that she loves today. And Chapman was clearly a big part of that. Even a kid as artistic as Jessie could never have drawn that up.

Students, trust yourselves. Parents, trust your kids. And everybody, trust the process. We’ve got over 2,000 colleges in this country. Students who care enough to find the right ones, who are trusted enough to make the choice, and who are dedicated enough to make the most of their time there are stacking their future deck in their favor.