So, some advice about college searching: Go on campus visits. No joke, they help a lot. I actually spent two weeks earlier in August for East Coast college touring! It was lots of fun with the family… kinda like a road trip.<\/p>\n
On my tumblr before the trip, I actually ranted how annoyed I actually was with this college searching process. Here is what I thought three weeks ago:<\/p>\n
“I hate it when adults talk to me about college”<\/p>\n
Well.. I guess it\u2019s not like I hate the subject. There\u2019s just one thing they always ask that bugs the crap outta me: ‘What\u2019s your first choice school?’<\/p>\n
![\"UCLA](\"http:\/\/mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/ucla_campus1-300x206.jpg\" "\\"ucla_campus1\\"")
Dude\u2026 I don\u2019t have one. I mean, isn\u2019t that why you apply to more than one college? You can\u2019t have your eyes set on just one school. And plus, if I was that partial to one school, I\u2019d be one heck of a mess if I didn\u2019t get in. It\u2019s like asking you to choose between friends\u2026 if you could save one friend who would you save?<\/p>\n
Another reason why I hate this question\u2026 because when you\u2019re talking to adults, these adults most likely know your parents. So\u2026 when I talk to these adults, guess who else is there? Yep. My parents.<\/p>\n
Now I don\u2019t know about you, but unless I somehow magically land my butt into Yale, my dad is extremely partial to UCLA. One day I was in the car just chatting with my dad, and I was telling him about this awesome Dual-Degree program they have at Brown\/RISD where basically you get your academics at Brown and arts training at RISD. Yeah. You know what his response was? ‘Maybe they have something like that at UCLA too! Maybe they even pair up with Art Center or something\u2026 [since this conversation happened to be while we were driving home from that digital design class I take at Art Center]’. Yeah, way to be biased Dad. -_-<\/p>\n
And since my parents want to know my first choice\u2026 and since I don\u2019t really have one standout dream college, I\u2019m extremely nervous talking about college to other adults\u2026 only around my parents. You see when you talk to adults who basically don\u2019t interfere with your life at all, you can BS it. Make stuff up. Just randomly choose a college on your and talk about what you like about it. But that doesn\u2019t mean I want my parents to get the wrong idea that I really prefer Carnegie Mellon over UPenn for example.<\/p>\n
So I play dumb. Well\u2026 I\u2019m not actually acting\u2026 I just seem dumb when I respond with ‘um\u2026 uh\u2026’ *shift eyes nervously over to parents*.<\/p>\n
Sadly, this does not work out very well either. My mom then interjects, ‘Oh don\u2019t ask her\u2026 she doesn\u2019t know anything.’ PFFT. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t know anything. I just don\u2019t want to say anything. There\u2019s a distinct difference there. I don\u2019t want to get attached to a school I haven\u2019t been accepted to yet\u2026 Way to make me look stupid Mom. -_-”<\/p>\n
And I’m glad to say, I take back what I said. Because really. College visits help. It helped me distinguish what was important to what school. Online, all the pictures of every campus look beautiful; all the departments look just as distinguished. It’s only when you see the school in person and attend an information session do you see the strengths and weaknesses of each school.<\/p>\n
Haha! Anyways… I thought about putting every single entry of my East Coast college touring where you can see the notes I took about each school I visited, but I think it’d make this entry too long. Until next time!<\/p>\n