It is that time of year again. People are graduating high school and going out to a new life. While the juniors of the past are now seniors and the whole cycle begins again. So it comes to reason that I should talk about choosing a college.
I would like to point out before I go into this that for some college isn’t the next step. Many people go on to choose a trade or to work in a job that requires different training. If that is you then you go glen coco.
Everyone has a different goal they want to achieve in the time that they have so be honest with yourself if you think that college might not be for you.
There should be a lot of different things that factor in when you decide your future college. The most important thing that you should consider though is if they have your chosen major. I mentioned how to plan for a career in a post <here> but that includes picking a major.
If the schools your obsessed with don’t have your major… don’t go there. I cannot tell you how many people I know that went the UGA because it was their dream school to find out that either they didn’t have the major they wanted or the program was very bad.
You are going to school for the major first and the connections/school life second. The second most important thing is the location of the school. This tends to be switched with the cost of the school, but that depends on your money situation. They go hand in hand.
If you want to live in a city expect it to cost more. If you hate the country, don’t go to a school in the middle of no where, no matter how cheap it is.
Find a location that sounds interesting and then go see it. You should get the chance to visit colleges so that you can get the vibe of the campus and see if it matches what you’re looking for. If you want to be a partier, a school in the middle of no where with no nightlife might not be a good choice. Or if you want to rent a house after freshman year so you can save money, then the city might not work. It all depends on who you want to be in college.
I chose my school because the campus is beautiful, it had a marginally acceptable nightlife, and it had Greek life. All of these were what narrowed it down when I made a list of schools with my majors and in my price range. Everything else was secondary.
I didn’t consider schools that I couldn’t afford because I knew the strain and stress of 25 thousand a semester or year was going to be too much. For some that might not be the case, but to each their own. You need to really think about what you might want to get involved in and how important each part is.
I have a friend who goes to a school with no Greek life. That doesn’t really make her happy because all she has ever wanted was to be a part of a sorority. She has spent two years miserable while she waits to get her core done so she can transfer.
Try to avoid doing that because you shouldn’t regret college. There is more to learn in college then just school and the lessons you learn will shape who you are as a full grown adult. Take the search for college seriously and be honest with yourself on what you want.
Remember that you have to attend class and you have to do the work so you should at least enjoy it while you’re there.
The most important thing that I have learned from being in college for two years now is that you are going to see a major change of character in yourself. Your grown up identity is going to form as you are away from home or independent from your parents for, some people, the first time ever.
Don’t be scared of this change embrace it and do all the things you always wanted to while you were growing up. If you wanted to be popular then go out and meet people. If you wanted to stay home and read a book then you do it.
There are so many different kinds of people in college that either you will find a place in a group or you will form your own. If you don’t then make sure it is because you want to and not because you are holding yourself back from opportunities.
That’s my 2 cents for the day. I hope that this will help a junior who hasn’t even realized that they are seniors in most sense now and that this last year is going to fly by.
-Heather
