hello all... i have been out of school for a year and a half and want to return to a college somewhere... so i have a couple questions for everyone... First off how did everyone decide what school they wanted to go to? Also i am interested in schools like antioch and warren wilson... how do i find schools like this without reading about every single college in the entire world?
www.collegeboard.com do a college matchmaker search. it'll ask you various questions about the kind of college you want to attend, and will give you a list of matches based on that. it helped me find the college I visited, fell in love with, and didn't get into.
i chose by where i wanted to live. not by the school. then i moved home a year later (nothing to do with school) so now i just go to the local one. i'd say narrow down where you want to live, and look into schools in those areas
come visit me at warren wilson!!! (seriously, pm me if you're going to come down) the only way i really decided was by visiting and spending an actual portion of time there, not just the guided tour and leave deal. a school can have all the stats on paper, but the atmosphere and the people are what really makes a school somewhere you could actually picture yourself living at. hope this helps a bit love
My parents have always talked about colleges as long as I've lived and everytime we went on a road trip, a big part was touring colleges (even when I was 6 or 7). So I had a good idea of what I liked and I knew I wanted to move back up to Boston. Then I did a Princeton Review thingy where it gave a list of colleges based on criteria I put in and separated them into reach, good match, and safety. Basically I was looking for location, my major, and prestige. I applied early decision though so that sort of made my decision for me.
yeah, i'm def. looking into colleges that are close to home the 2 colleges i'm applying to are roughly 2 and a half hours away that's far enough for me also by major, you want a college that has good programs for the major you want but other than that stuff...i dunno
if you are interested in colleges like warren wilson and antioch, i suggest looking into the books Colleges That Change Lives : 40 Schools You Should Know About Even If You're Not a Straight-A Student and Cool Colleges: For the Hyper-Intelligent, Self-Directed, Late Blooming, and Just Plain Different. I am really into researching things, so I found out a lot about colleges by just surfing the web and going from one site to another. also, check out the eco league, a consoritorium of colleges that are small and have environmental focuses: www.ecoleague.org. i know way too much about colleges, so if you want more specific suggestions, PM me.
i knew i wanted to go close to home, i live in virginia and i think we have really good state schools...university of mary washington, UVA, Virginia tech, william and mary to name a few. i applied to a couple schools, 2 i knew i could get into, one that was a stretch and one that i knew was a long shot...i decided on the university of mary washington(its 1 hour from home which was really appealing to me because my best friends are a year or so younger and only 1 has aspirations of going to college, so its nice to see them) anyway i enrolled their without seeing the campus or going down to see what the night life was like. the campus is beautiful like a college campus you see on t.v., not huge but not spread out, a really connected feel just walking down the campus i see familiar faces everyday that ive never even talked to, however one disappointment is the party scene(which isnt that important but i really enjoy a good party and drinking with a lot of people, makes it that much funner), you kinda gotta search a bit to find the people your looking to hang out with, i fell into a really nice group of older people (real enlightened, partiers, and up for pretty much anything whether its going to a memorial service for soldiers of getting drunk and breaking into a pool to go swimming at night), all in all im enjoying it but a lot of the time im bored, the schools great, good teachers and all around good people, the town is kind of like any other small town just with a college implanted in it, looking back i wish i explored my options and actually visited the colleges but at that time i really didnt give a shit about choosing a college as long as it was close to home, i just wanted to get it over with...i plan on transfering to VCU with a friend of mine, i think it'll be more my kinda school, much bigger (20k people compared to my school which has about 6k) and its in the city=more night life and i skateboard=better terrain...sorry if this is long and not helpful in parts(im in the typing mood)
whoa i just looked at how lengthy my first post is so i'll give you the jist(sp?) because i wouldnt even wanna read it...my advice think about what you want, do you want a great education with little partying or do you want a school with a good program and good nightlife...might get lucky and get exactly what you want...also read about the schools visit them and maybe even revisit depending on how close...spend a night there too if you can...i didnt and regret my original choice(its a good school/no partying tho) somewhat and am transferring this summer...all in all read up on the schools and their majors/programs to see if you like em and visits the campuses(major) to meet the people, you dont want to be stuck with assholes for 4 years, its extremely annoying
i want to go to uni more central in the city, and a place thats got good facilities and large grounds. so im chosing the appropriate uni. arent there local places you can go to?
