Finally back home! I’m relieved to say that the traveling has ceased
for the time being - that is until I leave for GSP in about a week (when
did it become so soon?!) Either way, I’m happy to say that my first of
17 experiences has been crossed off my to-do list!
College Visits
The term had been unknown to my parents until I started begging them
to go a couple months back. While all my friends were going left and
right, north and south, coming back with honorary “Harvard” or “Penn”
shirts and showing off all of their photos of this-and-that campus, I
was still in that rut trying to explain to the parents why someone would
even want to go visit a school they haven’t even applied to yet and don’t even know for sure that they will.
To get a feel for the school.
To see the dorms.
To meet the people and the professors.
Scout out the location.
To see if you will feel comfortable spending 4 years of your life there.
Finally, after hours upon hours of planning and pleading, we were off
to go see 4 of the colleges off of my list. And boy, am I glad we did
because it was a experience unlike any other! Plus, now my parents, at
least Dad, understands the value of going to see a school in person.
The trip was exhausting, uncomfortably long, occasionally boring, but
totally, and completely worth it. See, ever since middle school, my
dream was to attend an Ivy. It had started out with Harvard Law. I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. I could feel
it in my bones (mind you, this was in middle school, and my version of a
lawyer did not include the LSAT’s in any fashion). Then, the dream
changed, and I knew I wanted to go to Yale and study
Journalism. This desire was fueled by my ~slight! obsession with Rory
from Gilmore Girls. The Yale dream was quickly squashed when I
discovered that they didn’t even have a Journalism major, not even as a
minor. And with that, I believed my dream of going Ivy was hopelessly
lost. That is, until I discovered Brown - the Holy Grail, the Safe
Haven, of any and all liberal arts Ivy’s. Thus, sophomore year, the plan
was Brown, all the way.
Brown was included in the trip. But, I’m not surprised to say it
isn’t my #1 school anymore. I think that that is because I realized (no
matter how long it took) that the prestige attached to a name might not
be worth the price tag attached on the other end. External factors such
as tuition/standardized tests excluded, Brown isn’t the best fit for me.
Not to say that Brown wouldn’t be wonderful, it isn’t, for lack of a
better word, perfect. I’d like to think that for anyone and
everyone, there is that perfect school in which they won’t have to make
any sacrifices (be they educational, financial, etc.) Here come in the
next 3 schools we visited.
Bennington. Check it out online. Go visit the Facebook page. Stalk
it’s tumblr. It seems like the BEST school out there. Buildings look
modern. Princeton Review RAVES about how eco-friendly the campus is and
how happy the students are. The campus life seems so lively that just
one look and you’ll never want to leave! But, there’s always a but, then
you get to the actually school and….well, it’s not like it had been
portrayed online. At all. Before, I had believed Bennington to be my #2
school, but after the tour, it quickly fell down to a lower slot. That
would be reason #1 why students should go on college visits. Not
everything on the internet is true!
Sarah Lawrence. My expectations for this school were not as high and
thus, I belie my experience wasn’t unreasonably skewed or biased. I
thought the school was nice, the campus not as great as it was on the
brochure pictures, but overall, a wonderful school, and the only one
that has a specified program in creative writing! Sometimes, you need to
visit a school just to affirm your original beliefs and thoughts about
it.
Bates. Now, this school was the curveball - a HUGE one at that! I had
only recently found out about this one after talking to a friend, thus
it ranked last on my list. Its website wasn’t anything stunning and
nothing stood out at me that would seem as if I would belong there. But,
taking a leap of faith, I visited the school farthest away from home,
and I fell in love! Everything about it was amazing: the location, the
classes, the people (gosh, they were friendly!). Everything seemed
perfect - and if it wasn’t, it was pretty darned close! Quickly, Bates
jumped from last place to first.
I think visiting colleges holds different value to different
students. Some use it as an opportunity to explore different
opportunities, some just use it as an excuse to cut class for a couple
of days. Either way, both will undoubtedly learn quite a bit about a
couple schools and hopefully, a little more about themselves and where
they’re headed in life. To summarize, visiting schools is not something
Bulgarians usually do. I actually think I am the first student form our
community to go out and do this. But, I am incredibly grateful I did
because I learned some important things and i will forever be grateful
to my dad for trudging me around 2,500+ miles across 12 states for a
week and to my mom, for letting me leave for so long.
Here’s to next year’s Acceptance Letters!
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