Things I Wish I Knew When Choosing College

In the spirit of college application deadlines, I thought I'd share some wisdom I learned about researching colleges through four years of college.

1. If you plan on studying abroad, where you go matters. Some schools require it, and others strongly support it. Some may encourage it but do little to help you acheive it. If you go to the last kind, you will find it very difficult to raise the necesary funds or even graduating on time.
2. There is such a thing as "free college." An article on Fastweb has a list of schools where you can get the tuition waived. Of course, you still have to pay other fees, but it gets rid of one big cost. While all of the options are fairly competitive, I wished I had tried for one of these.
3. Travel can be a huge expense. Although I live and go to school within the same state, traveling can be difficult and expensive. Going to a closer school could have saved my family a lot of time and money.
4. Look for scholarships early. I did the majority of my scholarship search while I was in school, and as a result did not get as much of a chance to apply for scholarships with large prizes.
5. Start visiting schools early. I know that two years seems like a long time, but most of senior year will be spent applying. I did not want to go to any school that I hadn't visited, so I did not apply to several schools merely because I didn't have the time to visit.
6. You will have to take the SAT/ACT more than once. I only took the ACT once, and was not completely satisfied with my score, but I had not chance to take it again.

I hope this helps everyone who is planning to go to college. Do any of my readers have any tips to add?

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Religious Colleges and Univeristies

Students choose to attend religious colleges or universities for a variety of reasons. Some want to pursue a career relating to religion such as clergy. Others prefer a more conservative environment. Some want a private school and the one they choose such so happens to have a religious affiliation.

Here in the United States, most religious colleges and universities are Christian. Jewish colleges include The American Jewish University, United Talmudical Seminary, and Yeshiva University. I found this article about a Muslim University opening back in 2010.

So readers, I am asking for your help on this one since I go to a public school. Why did you choose to go to a religious school? Do you have the same religious background as the school? Did you look specifically for a religious school? What religion or domination is the school? How would you say it differs from a public school or non-affiliated private school? Who would you recomend your school for? And, finally, do you feel you made the right choice? Feel free to also answer these questions if you are planning on attending a religious university.

For those students who do not attend a religious university, would you ever consider it?

The Best and the Worst Parts about Graduating

A few weeks ago I wrote about my feelings about graduating (here). In some ways, I think the feeling has gotten worse. I (only half-joking) tell my friends that I'm not leaving, and instead plan to hide out in someone's dorm room. Since this isn't the most practical solution, I've decided to find as much positive about graduating as I can. Also, in an attempt to actually deal with my feelings, I will share why I don't want to graduate.

The Good:

Having my own apartment: I will be able to decorate it with much more freedom than I have now, and my stuff will always be there. No more having to run out and buy something I already have or wait for my mom to ship it.

More freedom in food: I love not having to worry about budgeting for groceries, but at the same time, I don't have a lot of options on campus. Grocery shopping will mean that I can eat basically whatever I want and get to experiment more with cooking.

Privacy: I've had really good luck when it comes to roommates, and for that I am grateful. However, it can't be denied that having a roommate, even if they are a dream, has its drawbacks, and a lack of privacy and a certain freedom is one. With my own room, I can have friends and my boyfriend over or watch T.V. without worrying if my roommate is bothered by it.

Having a job: I signed up to get updates from one company I am working for and the other day I heard about a position. One that I knew I would feel confidant holding and I qualified for. It gave me new hope, despite the state of the economy. I honestly can't wait until I have a full-time job and start making money.

The Bad:

Close proximity to my friends. This year, I lived on the same floor as most of m sorority sisters. If I ever felt like hanging out, all I had to do was go to the lounge, right next door to me. In the past most of my friends have lived in the same building, or even the same suite as me. I never lacked for company. This also meant it was pretty easy to get free rides. Now, they'll all be living in different parts of the state, maybe even country, and I won't be able to see them that often.

Responsibility: being in college meant I always had a safety net. I knew I wouldn't get kicked out of the dorm if I couldn't pay rent, or starve if I had no way to get to the grocery store.  I also didn't have to worry about health insurance because I was covered under my mom's policy.

For anyone who will be graduating soon, what are you looking forward to about graduating? What are you dreading?

How to Be Well-Liked in Your Classes

Image via Wikipedia

While in college, one of the most important things you will do is study. If you are smart, your biggest goal will not be to become the best liked person on campus. If the latter just comes naturally, of course, than more power to you. That being said, my title seems pointless. The goal of this post is not so much so that you will be popular among your classmates so much as it is to give you tips so that you do not make their college career more difficult.

1. Before you ask a question, decide whether it benefits anyone in the class other than you. If it is something that the teacher has gone over more than twice, or about a situation that applies only to you, wait until class is over to talk to the professor one-on-one or go see him or her during office hours. On that note, keep the "What if" scenarios to a minimum and keep them reasonable.


2. College is a great place for debate, and everyone has their own opinion. However, the middle of class is not the time or place to get aggressive. If you and another student or the professor disagree, handle it like the adults you are and discuss things calmly. If necessary, agree to disagree.


3. Before you go on any kind of tangent or attempt to steer the professor down another track, decide whether or not what you have to say is relevant, at least in part, to the class. For example, your feelings about the nation's exercise habits may be a very good thing to share during health class, but not in the middle of marketing class.

4. Respect your fellow students and the professor. There will be annoying classmates no matter what your major is but resist the urge to roll your eyes every time they open their mouths, or talk about them behind their backs. This goes for your professor as well. Don't interrupt anyone while they are talking, have patience, give everyone a chance, they might surprise you.

Readers, is there any advice that you would add to the list?

Give-a-Way on Another Site

Over at http://www.seattlestevie.com/ there is a giveaway for a free gift card to CSN, a network of online stores. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment saying what you'd like to win, so go check it out.

Friday's Comment of the Week

This week's comment was on the post Choosing a Major. Kristen wrote:

"as someone who had picked a major (finance) based on the availability of jobs post-graduation, i'm almost inclined to say that the more important thing is to study something that you like. i know plenty of people who are going into finance who majored in areas like international politics or goverment.







but great post!






-kristin


http://styleitgreen.blogspot.com"

Are Colleges Too Liberal?

One thing that you will witness a lot in college is people who are very outspoken about their views, whether religious, political, or ethical in nature. However, depending on your school and the location, some views may appear more prominent than others. Unfortunately, its hard to tell whether that's because more people hold those views, or because they are just more outspoken about them. Its even possible that people who hold one view are too afraid to speak up because they are in the minority.

Colleges are known for being extremely liberal. I go to school in a very conservative area and yet, most of the professors I know are liberal democrats, and many students are, at most, conservative democrats. Of course there are exceptions, and they tend to be very open about it. Still, the College Democrats have a much easier time staying active than the College Republicans.

A site called Campus Reform encourages students to take back their schools, and make them more conservative. While I belive that colleges should be places where there is a healthy debate on many topics, and permitting one over the other is a perfect way to discourage such debate, I'm not sure this website is going about it in the right way. Of course, encouraging debate might not be their goal. It seems like they want schools to favor conservatism above liberalism, not a healthy balance of the two.

There are a lot of related topics in a debate like this, so look for more posts on the topic. And, as always, I want to hear what your opinions are.

Related articles

• Where are all the political student groups on campus? (tech.mit.edu)