Applying to College
At this point in the year, those of you who are reading this blog who are juniors or seniors in High School are probably pretty stressed out. For juniors, the college application process is slowly becoming a reality but you still have to do all the work for your high school classes. I know that junior year at my High School, The Westminster Schools, was awful (despite all the love and support I received!) so I want to give a shout out to Daniel, Celia, Louise, Robert, and Katherine, those of you who are still in the battlefield! LOVE!
In November of my junior year I was just beginning to put together a list of schools that I would like to visit. I attended college fairs with my parents and looked at a lot of brochures and look books. My mom and I read a great book called "Colleges That Change Lives." Everyone should read it! My list of colleges at that point included none - I repeat, none!- of the schools that I ended up applying to. Two years ago today, if you had asked me where I wanted to go to college, I would have told you Sweet Briar! I liked them because all of their brochures and mailings were pink.....so I wanted to go there......I know. Completely ridiculous.
As the months went by, my parents and my college counselor- SHOUT OUT TO THE AMAZING NANCY BEANE!!!- encouraged me to think about specific qualities that I was looking for in a schoool. To me, it was important that my college be small, liberal arts, close to home (in the SE), where most students lived on campus all 4 years and people didn't go home every weekend. Of course I ended up looking at, appling to, and even seriously considering schools that did not fit this criteria, but it was important to set some parameters.
During spring break of that year my mom and I took an epic college road trip. We visited Presbyterian College, Wofford, Appalachian State, Sewanne: University of the South, University of Alabama, and Birmingham-Southern College. In the coming months I also took trips to see Centre College, Drew University, Guilford College and Eckerd College. Seeeing schools I didn't like was great because it strengthened my love of schools that I did like (like Wofford!). All those visits made me positive that I was looking for a small school (and Florida wasn't for me! :D )
The best pieces of advice I can give everyone to get the most out of these college visits is this: take tons of notes, schedule overnights whenever possible, and develop a good relationship with your Admissions Counselors at each school! One of these days I'll post my notes from my visits to Wofford for y'all to look at. The 6 schools that I eventually applied to were: Wofford, Birmingham-Southern, Sewanee, Centre, Guilford and Drew.
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that the process of looking at colleges is just as important as the end-result. You will learn a lot about yourself and about what is important to you in a community or learning environment. Don't set your heart on one school- instead, keep an open mind throughout the journey. I guarantee you there is more than 1 perfect school for everyone. I probably could have been pretty happy at several of the schools that I chose between.
Please comment if you have any questions about my college search process or to hear more about why I chose Wofford!
xoxo
