Lessons I Learned Applying to College
There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy. –Unknown
There is no question that applying for college is possibly one of the most important and intimidating decisions of your life. I know it was for me. My parents always told me I would regret it if I didn’t go, but they never told me how complicated applying for and choosing a college could be.
As a first generation college student, I didn’t have a lot of resources to turn to. My parents were as helpful as possible, but having never applied for college themselves, the process of choosing the right college was more difficult than we imagined. I was lucky because I knew going into the process that I wanted to stay in state for school. I also had some idea of what I wanted to study. Besides that, I had no clue what I was doing.
In order to do my research I turned to the Internet and my college counselor at my high school and this is what I learned:
Navigating College Websites: After sifting through a lot of crappy sites on the Internet, I found a few objective college information sites. My favorite of these was probably the Princeton Review. It not only has information about select colleges, but it also has information about scholarships and standardized tests. College Board was also helpful, especially for the SAT. What I like about College Board is that you can search by college or college major and it will give suggestions. I also visited a lot of specific college websites, but you have to remember that their intent is to get you to attend their college. So while they are the most informative concerning the content of their programs and the educational opportunities, they may focus more on the good things happening in each program and ignore or overlook other aspects.
Help From Your College Counselor: It also helped a lot to have a college counselor to talk to. I found the advice of others to be quite insightful, however to a certain extent, I feel like I might have relied too much on that advice. My counselor really pushed me to apply to a private school in Colorado Springs, CO. In fact, she made it sound so great that I didn’t want to apply anywhere else and when I was inevitably rejected from the very selective school, I struggled even deciding where to go. It was almost as if all my plans had disappeared and I had to figure everything out a second time. In the end though, I’m really glad that I listened to her advice and researched further on my own.
I guess what I’m saying is that the Internet is an amazing source of information even when it comes to that intimidating college selection. As for the advice of others, I think it’s great to listen to it, but everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Which is ironic because here I am giving you advice…I guess you can take this with a grain of salt as well.
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