Your top 5 Colleges

MyMajors Quiz Results Old

I was one of those really proactive kids when it came time to apply for college. I’m usually a pretty laid back, get it done when I get it done, day before the deadline kind of person (which probably isn’t good but I tend to be nonetheless). Anyway, I looked at what seemed like hundreds of colleges and started narrowing down around the end of my JUNIOR year. Yep, junior year, not senior year. By October I had it narrowed down to the “Big Twelve.” I ended up sending applications to eight of these schools by the end of October. I received all eight of my acceptance letters and scholarship offers by the start of the spring semester of my senior year. I think the main thing I was looking for was if I could really see myself at these schools. I looked at the big picture rather than the details of if they had a certain program or club or sport. With my track record I knew God would change whatever I thought I was supposed to do anyway. So I instead looked at the quality of the education, quantity of cost and the overall atmosphere, and then let Him do the rest. While I was deciding where to apply, I took the MyMajors test to see what majors it would suggest because I had no clue what I wanted to do, but didn’t’ want to pick a school if I was undecided. I ended up choosing to be a communications major and picked my top five colleges based on that. John Brown University, Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, Sterling College, and Houston Baptist University were the ones I had chosen. I also applied to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO, Boston Bible College, and Liberty University. But by the end of the day, Howard Payne University was definitely the best fit for me on paper. So I visited in May and by graduation my course was set; destination: Howard Payne University. And funny story, after I started school, I was a communications major for about a week and a half then changed to Psychology. And lucky for me, HPU has an awesome Psychology department!

When picking a school I would tell students to not let temporary things influence your decision. You can easily change your major the first year you are there, you can easily lose interest in a sport or get injured, and your friends will still be your friends if you don’t go to the same college. I would also tell high school students not wait until the last minute! Start super soon. The sooner you start, the better because your last semester in high school is stressful. It’s a whole lot more fun to have it done first semester, have a ton of options, then just sit back and pick a school before you graduate. And when your first day on campus finally comes, you can drive your Jeep Cherokee up to your dorm with confidence knowing you’re in for an awesome year. ☺

Good luck picking a school! And don’t forget to have fun doing it!
Sting ‘Em! Rachel Ellington

Rachel

Hey my name is Rachel and I’m a chocoholic… oops! Wrong blog! :) I am about to be a sophomore at Howard Payne University majoring in Psychology so that I can become a student counselor some fine day. Basically, I’m a good old fashioned (but not fashionable) Southern (but not too Southern), Baptist (except I can dance), country-fried (not literally. it‘s just a Southern expression… ok maybe I am a bit more Southern than I thought) kid (even though I am 18). Hope you enjoy my blog and have a lovely day!!

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2 thoughts on “Your top 5 Colleges

  1. Hello Rachel, well I am a younger student, and am trying to get everything figured out for my college plan. I know what career I want to be in, I would love to be a surgeon, but I don’t know what to major in. I don’t know why I am getting stressed out already, I am very young. But I’ve been on a few websites, and I just don’t know what I should try to major in for my college, and I don’t know what college I should attend. Do you have any tips or websites that could help me out with my goals for college? Thank you, have a great day

    xoxo,
    Kayla

    1. Hi Kayla!

      I am so thrilled you are getting a head start on the college search! I started looking at schools when I was a junior and was all set to sign the paperwork before the spring semester of my senior year even started! It sure makes it a lot easier! That being said, there is no need to stress. You’re way ahead of schedule, you’re obviously not procrastinating, and there are people at every school you will look at who’s sole job is to help you make it out of the application process alive! So no worries 🙂 The University’s website is a FANTASTIC place to start when checking out a school. If the insitution has put effort and time into their website, it’s a good sign and will usually reflect quite a bit about the school. Howard Payne actually just launched their new website and it’s AWESOME. Although I am slightly biased 😉 But seriously, an official school website is a great source of free information and more often than not can give you some insight into what majors and programs the school is known for. Now, as for a major. Everyone and their dog will tell 87.9% of students change their major umpteen times before they graduate, so don’t focus on nailing down a detailed degree plan just yet. In another post I discuss what you should be looking for in a school so that when you do change majors you won’t have to transfer every time as well. BUT, you should have a general idea of what kind of majors the school offers and be interested in some of them so you have options. And everyone is different. You may wake up tomorrow and know indubitably that you want to be a scientist who studies Beluga Whales in Antarctica! Or, you could be like me and change your major two weeks into your freshman year! I would strongly encourage you to look at the different college transition advice posts on MyMajors, collegeboard.org is also a good place to get info about all things college-y, and also, college fairs are a GREAT way to see a lot of different schools in one place and talk to someone who has actually been there. Thanks so much for your questions! I hope that helps and you have a great day as well!

      ~Rachel

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