Saturday, July 20, 2013

Bad Decisions?

Gah.  Sometimes I really wonder why I do these things to myself.  As I am a naturally curious person, I decided to go take a wander onto one of my favorite college blogs [northeastdreaming.tumblr.com].  It was there that I saw that the lovely Katrina had posted a review of Boston College!  You may or may not know, but Boston University is on my list, and Boston College is not.  But I was curious nonetheless and decided to read the review of a college located in one of my dream locations.

It was certainly enlightening.  As I come to understand, Boston College offers a traditional college campus, whereas Boston University is "embedded in the city."  I am not a natural-born city-dweller.  I live for the suburbs.  Also, the vibes that she was reflecting on at BC seemed to really resonate with me.

This.  Scares.  Me.

I've set my college visit itinerary, so that can't be changed, but I'm really starting to wonder if I should seriously add BC as a college to apply to.  I'm scared that I'm going to hate BU's campus.  I've heard that BC is a better college in general, but then BU has a better English department.  WHAT DO I DO?

In an effort to weigh the merits of each college, I did a Google search of "Best colleges for English..."

.. And I scared myself even more.  Here I find a list of UCLA, Yale, Harvard... so many colleges.  Ones that I would never consider due to their location.  Some that I don't even think I could get into.  And then others that I would dream of going to, but somehow never ended up on my list.

I just don't know.  I feel like the way I conducted my college search was random, sporadic, and now I feel like it's led me in the wrong direction.  I'm terrified that I'm going to choose the wrong college, and I really don't want to do that, obviously.

I've resigned myself to staying away from Google searches, and just focus on the colleges that I have chosen to dedicate my search towards.  I am definitely content with the majority of colleges I'm looking at, some confirmed by searching, others not.  I may add more schools to my list of colleges to which I'll probably apply, but don't have a large chance of getting in, or just don't have the opportunity to visit.  Colleges such as Yale and BC.

I don't know completely where I'm going with this yet, but hopefully I'll find out.  That's what this is all about, right?

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Phew!

So, I have now completed my college trip itinerary for this summer.  Eleven colleges all up and down New England, all in one week.  And do you want to know the interesting thing?  I didn't even get all of my colleges in.

A list of the colleges I am visiting in the order I will visit them:

  1. Princeton University
  2. Columbia University
  3. Vassar College
  4. Tufts University
  5. Emerson College
  6. Northeastern University
  7. Providence College
  8. Salem State University
  9. Boston University
  10. Colgate University
  11. Hamilton College
All the reservations have been made, the hotels are planned, the rental car is booked.  It's going to be one of the most stressful weeks of my life, and I know this for certain.  However, if all goes as planned, it will also be extremely helpful and informative to my college search.  I've been stalking the forums at collegeconfidential.com for lots of tips on how to best go on these tours and sit through the information sessions.  I am in no way totally prepared for a thorough examination of each college, but I know that I have time to get it done and ready.  I'm really excited to be going on this trip and the opportunities it will hopefully give me.


Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Prettiest Views

A photographic collage of all of the colleges on my list [in no specific order].


Vassar University

The College of William and Mary
Northeastern University

Princeton University
Rowan University
Salem State University
Trinity College
Tufts University

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Virginia

Providence College
Columbia University

Emerson College

Hamilton College

Albright College


Colgate University

Boston University