Wednesday, October 19, 2011

College Considerations

I'm a quarter through with my last year of high school, which means that very, very shortly I am to send out applications to all the colleges I'm toying with the idea of trying to go to. A lot of my peers have already applied- and been accepted into- their college of choice; I've yet to fully apply for college.


In fact, I can hardly decide which of the several colleges which interest me I'd like:



  • College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine;

  • Warren Wilson in Asheville, North Carolina;

  • Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida;

  • Reed College in Portland, Oregon;

  • Yale in New Haven, Connecticut (it's very vegan-friendly..);

  • University of South Florida (ehhh........) in Tampa, Floirda; etc.

(These are the main ones as of the moment.)


My guidance counselor suggests applying to six or so colleges, so I guess I'll be applying for all of those... But first I need to prove that I'm poor enough to warrant and application fee waiver for all of them, determine whether I'm up to par with some of their standards, and whether I want to live in that location. It's all very strange to me: I spent some number of years yearning for the adventure and mystery that would be college (if I could ever get there... Will I?) and now it is close at hand, and I have tethered parts of me down, for the worse or for the better.

1 comment:

Marvin the Martian said...

If you can go Ivy League (Harvard, Yale), do it. You'll be getting a degree in Connections, not in anything useful, but those connections (the people you meet and make friends with) will make you rich.

If you can't go Ivy League, and you can get a full scholarship somewhere away from home, do it. The only bad thing is that you must be very very focused on your studies, because there are way too many distractions when you live on campus away from home.

If you can't get a full scholarship somewhere, then go the place with the least out-of-pocket expense. You save a LOT of money by living at home and commuting to school, and your grades will be better because you won't be living on campus with all its distractions.

Keep in mind that college is only a short 3 to 5 years of your life. It will be over before you know it. Then you'll be in the workforce, where you will spend the rest of your life. So don't place much emphasis on college life, because it's brief and transitory and often quite meaningless, like middle school was. ;-)

That's my two cents. ;-)