Where am I going to college?
Hell if I know. May 1st is in a week and I wish people would stop asking. Though I guess it's not their fault. Anyway, so here's the status quo on colleges:
March 19
-Rochelle has been accepted into Middlebury! :D. 3:41pm
March 24
-Rochelle has been accepted into both Grinnell and Carleton! 5:11pm
March 28
-Rochelle has been accepted into, and gotten scholarships from, Oberlin, Scripps, and CMC! :D. 6:03pm
April 7
-Rochelle is still annoyed at her dad for opening her admissions letter from Vanderbilt. 9:26pm [A silly thing to be annoyed over, but still. As the person actually completing the application, I would like to be the first to know whether or not I get in.]
April 9
-Rochelle hopes writing all those aid letters will actually make a difference. 12:06pm [They did. :D]
April 10
-Rochelle is off to visit Carleton! 6:49am
April 12
-Rochelle is back from Carleton and rejoicing in warm, dry feet. 12:43pm [Rain - and subsequent wet feet and socks and shoes - for two days straight. Didn't stop me from really liking it, though.]
-Rochelle cannot believe that GA Tech just sent her an email telling her they have received her application NOW. 6:41pm [I mean, really. I sent it out before the January 15 deadline. That's almost three months earlier. I know it was a paper app, but still!]
April 13
-Rochelle is off to visit Middlebury! 1:10am
April 15
-Rochelle is back from Middlebury and cringing at the thought of makeup work for all these college visits. 7:34pm [Ugh, really.]
April 17
-Rochelle is off to her last college visit, Grinnell. 1:18am
April 19
-Rochelle is back from Grinnell and very happy to have made good use of her rain boots. 6:15pm [So, so glad I brought them.]
-Rochelle got into GA Tech, woo. 8:27pm
-Rochelle is not happy about having finished her college visits; now she has to actually pick one. 11:25pm
April 22
-Rochelle has essentially narrowed it down to Carleton, CMC, or UGA. 10:13pm
Today
-Rochelle is feeling some anxiety since May 1 is only a week away. 8:36pm
So in a quick, easy-to-read summary:
- University of Georgia: accepted - $1000 Charter scholarship
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: accepted
- Vanderbilt University: accepted
- Washington University in St. Louis: wait-listed
- Georgia Institute of Technology: accepted
- Carleton College: accepted
- Middlebury College: accepted
- Oberlin College: accepted - $15000 John F. Oberlin scholarship
- Grinnell College: accepted - $15000 Grinnell Trustee scholarship
- Scripps College: accepted - half-tuition James E. Scripps scholarship
- Claremont McKenna College: accepted - $10000 McKenna Achievement scholarship
Ten out of eleven is not bad, I think. :)
I have, as it said up there somewhere, essentially narrowed it down to Carleton, CMC, and UGA. The other universities were never really an option unless I got scholarships, which, evidently, I didn't. Tech wasn't even an option until they finally found my application, but it's still not really an option. Good school, but definitely not for me. Oberlin and Grinnell were both cool [Oberlin has those amazing moon chairs and Grinnell has a bi-annual drag show; plus they both listened to my aid letters and gave me $4000-5000 more per year in aid], but my overall impression didn't find anything especially amazing about them. Scripps was absolutely gorgeous and I had a great time while I was there, but I'm still iffy about the whole women's college thing, and also they have the required Core course, which I'm pretty sure are alternating lecture and discussion with the entire class. I hate lectures and cannot stay awake in them [I fell asleep during their 'sample' lecture, which was pretty short], plus that'd be a huge class. Also they didn't give me any aid, although the scholarship is the biggest of all of them and worth about $17000 a year. So Scripps is ruled out. Middlebury was the same as Oberlin and Grinnell, except more disappointing, I guess. I've been telling people it's my top choice since I decided to apply there, so maybe my expectations were too high. It's a beautiful campus and the people were friendly and stuff, but again I just didn't feel anything special. Plus they did not revise my aid package at all, so it would just be too expensive. So, albeit reluctantly, Middlebury is also no longer an option.
Now we're down to Carleton, CMC, and UGA. To be honest I liked the atmosphere of Scripps better while I was there, but for the reasons above, Scripps is out. CMC has the same beautiful weather, a pretty campus, and really good economics and international relations programs. It's something of a party school, though, and I'm not really a party-person. CMC is also supposedly pretty competitive, and I'm not a fan of competition. But it does have the consortium and is overall a great school. Carleton is an even better school [ranking-wise], and the atmosphere there was great. It was the first visit where I really spent time with current students, and they were all a lot of fun [even the president was funny], which is pretty impressive. The academics are hard but not competitive, and it snows. Which can also be a downside, because I'd probably freeze. Going by overall impression and gut feeling alone, I think I'd rather go to Carleton. It is, however, more expensive, though only by a few thousand. They upped my aid package in response to my letter [although the last email from them says after Robin graduates it might go right back down again], as did CMC [apparently. My financial aid packet evidently got lost in the mail and I never got it, so I can't log on to see how it changed and they won't release it over the phone or through email]. So that's the deal with them.
And here's the issue. UGA is everything I don't want in a school. It's in-state, it's big [although I know the honors college would make it feel much smaller], it's definitely a party school where drinking and drugs are common, Greek life is huge, and a ton of people from my school are going there, which is a downside regardless of whether they are my friends or not. College is a chance for a fresh, new start with new people, the likes of which we haven't had since elementary school. But. UGA is practically free. With the HOPE and Charter scholarships, it will cost about $6000 a year for room and board. For both Carleton and CMC, on the other hand, I would have to take out substantial loans. My parents will cover $20000 a year, partly through loans, and I would co-sign with them for loans in my name for the other approximate $10000. I'd be graduating with a fair amount of debt. I'm a high-schooler; I'm not even 18. My family is relatively well-off. I don't know what it's like to live with any debt, let alone a huge one. Plus there might be grad school in the future to consider, which would probably put me in even more debt, because I most likely won't be studying a field that has many scholarships.
So the question is: how much is an undergraduate experience worth? I could probably learn to live at UGA and have a good time and learn a lot and have no debt. But there would also be that doubting regret, wondering how things would be and how I would feel if I were at Carleton or CMC. I don't know if it's possible to be really happy with the prospect of a better experience at another school that I gave up. Every adult I've talked to [except Mme. Francisse, actually] has said that undergrad is not worth going into debt for, although Mr. Creel also told me that while people may enjoy grad school, undergrad is what they will always fondly remember as their college experience. However, every adult I've talked to is also an adult who didn't take the risk of debt and opted for the scholarship school. There's a definite bias; how can you say it's not worth it if you didn't experience it at all? I need to see both sides of it; I need to find somebody who did go for the experience at the expensive school and find out whether or not it was worth the debt. Every student I've talked to, on the other hand, tells me to go where I want to. And most of these are students like me, who have been well-provided for for most of their lives and who don't know what debt is. I'm willing to take on the debt in exchange for that dream undergraduate experience, but I'm naive and idealistic. I want to do one thing, but I know it can create huge barriers in the long run.
So, heart or head? Present or future?
I don't know, but I have one week to decide, and it will not be easy.
March 19
-Rochelle has been accepted into Middlebury! :D. 3:41pm
March 24
-Rochelle has been accepted into both Grinnell and Carleton! 5:11pm
March 28
-Rochelle has been accepted into, and gotten scholarships from, Oberlin, Scripps, and CMC! :D. 6:03pm
April 7
-Rochelle is still annoyed at her dad for opening her admissions letter from Vanderbilt. 9:26pm [A silly thing to be annoyed over, but still. As the person actually completing the application, I would like to be the first to know whether or not I get in.]
April 9
-Rochelle hopes writing all those aid letters will actually make a difference. 12:06pm [They did. :D]
April 10
-Rochelle is off to visit Carleton! 6:49am
April 12
-Rochelle is back from Carleton and rejoicing in warm, dry feet. 12:43pm [Rain - and subsequent wet feet and socks and shoes - for two days straight. Didn't stop me from really liking it, though.]
-Rochelle cannot believe that GA Tech just sent her an email telling her they have received her application NOW. 6:41pm [I mean, really. I sent it out before the January 15 deadline. That's almost three months earlier. I know it was a paper app, but still!]
April 13
-Rochelle is off to visit Middlebury! 1:10am
April 15
-Rochelle is back from Middlebury and cringing at the thought of makeup work for all these college visits. 7:34pm [Ugh, really.]
April 17
-Rochelle is off to her last college visit, Grinnell. 1:18am
April 19
-Rochelle is back from Grinnell and very happy to have made good use of her rain boots. 6:15pm [So, so glad I brought them.]
-Rochelle got into GA Tech, woo. 8:27pm
-Rochelle is not happy about having finished her college visits; now she has to actually pick one. 11:25pm
April 22
-Rochelle has essentially narrowed it down to Carleton, CMC, or UGA. 10:13pm
Today
-Rochelle is feeling some anxiety since May 1 is only a week away. 8:36pm
So in a quick, easy-to-read summary:
- University of Georgia: accepted - $1000 Charter scholarship
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: accepted
- Vanderbilt University: accepted
- Washington University in St. Louis: wait-listed
- Georgia Institute of Technology: accepted
- Carleton College: accepted
- Middlebury College: accepted
- Oberlin College: accepted - $15000 John F. Oberlin scholarship
- Grinnell College: accepted - $15000 Grinnell Trustee scholarship
- Scripps College: accepted - half-tuition James E. Scripps scholarship
- Claremont McKenna College: accepted - $10000 McKenna Achievement scholarship
Ten out of eleven is not bad, I think. :)
I have, as it said up there somewhere, essentially narrowed it down to Carleton, CMC, and UGA. The other universities were never really an option unless I got scholarships, which, evidently, I didn't. Tech wasn't even an option until they finally found my application, but it's still not really an option. Good school, but definitely not for me. Oberlin and Grinnell were both cool [Oberlin has those amazing moon chairs and Grinnell has a bi-annual drag show; plus they both listened to my aid letters and gave me $4000-5000 more per year in aid], but my overall impression didn't find anything especially amazing about them. Scripps was absolutely gorgeous and I had a great time while I was there, but I'm still iffy about the whole women's college thing, and also they have the required Core course, which I'm pretty sure are alternating lecture and discussion with the entire class. I hate lectures and cannot stay awake in them [I fell asleep during their 'sample' lecture, which was pretty short], plus that'd be a huge class. Also they didn't give me any aid, although the scholarship is the biggest of all of them and worth about $17000 a year. So Scripps is ruled out. Middlebury was the same as Oberlin and Grinnell, except more disappointing, I guess. I've been telling people it's my top choice since I decided to apply there, so maybe my expectations were too high. It's a beautiful campus and the people were friendly and stuff, but again I just didn't feel anything special. Plus they did not revise my aid package at all, so it would just be too expensive. So, albeit reluctantly, Middlebury is also no longer an option.
Now we're down to Carleton, CMC, and UGA. To be honest I liked the atmosphere of Scripps better while I was there, but for the reasons above, Scripps is out. CMC has the same beautiful weather, a pretty campus, and really good economics and international relations programs. It's something of a party school, though, and I'm not really a party-person. CMC is also supposedly pretty competitive, and I'm not a fan of competition. But it does have the consortium and is overall a great school. Carleton is an even better school [ranking-wise], and the atmosphere there was great. It was the first visit where I really spent time with current students, and they were all a lot of fun [even the president was funny], which is pretty impressive. The academics are hard but not competitive, and it snows. Which can also be a downside, because I'd probably freeze. Going by overall impression and gut feeling alone, I think I'd rather go to Carleton. It is, however, more expensive, though only by a few thousand. They upped my aid package in response to my letter [although the last email from them says after Robin graduates it might go right back down again], as did CMC [apparently. My financial aid packet evidently got lost in the mail and I never got it, so I can't log on to see how it changed and they won't release it over the phone or through email]. So that's the deal with them.
And here's the issue. UGA is everything I don't want in a school. It's in-state, it's big [although I know the honors college would make it feel much smaller], it's definitely a party school where drinking and drugs are common, Greek life is huge, and a ton of people from my school are going there, which is a downside regardless of whether they are my friends or not. College is a chance for a fresh, new start with new people, the likes of which we haven't had since elementary school. But. UGA is practically free. With the HOPE and Charter scholarships, it will cost about $6000 a year for room and board. For both Carleton and CMC, on the other hand, I would have to take out substantial loans. My parents will cover $20000 a year, partly through loans, and I would co-sign with them for loans in my name for the other approximate $10000. I'd be graduating with a fair amount of debt. I'm a high-schooler; I'm not even 18. My family is relatively well-off. I don't know what it's like to live with any debt, let alone a huge one. Plus there might be grad school in the future to consider, which would probably put me in even more debt, because I most likely won't be studying a field that has many scholarships.
So the question is: how much is an undergraduate experience worth? I could probably learn to live at UGA and have a good time and learn a lot and have no debt. But there would also be that doubting regret, wondering how things would be and how I would feel if I were at Carleton or CMC. I don't know if it's possible to be really happy with the prospect of a better experience at another school that I gave up. Every adult I've talked to [except Mme. Francisse, actually] has said that undergrad is not worth going into debt for, although Mr. Creel also told me that while people may enjoy grad school, undergrad is what they will always fondly remember as their college experience. However, every adult I've talked to is also an adult who didn't take the risk of debt and opted for the scholarship school. There's a definite bias; how can you say it's not worth it if you didn't experience it at all? I need to see both sides of it; I need to find somebody who did go for the experience at the expensive school and find out whether or not it was worth the debt. Every student I've talked to, on the other hand, tells me to go where I want to. And most of these are students like me, who have been well-provided for for most of their lives and who don't know what debt is. I'm willing to take on the debt in exchange for that dream undergraduate experience, but I'm naive and idealistic. I want to do one thing, but I know it can create huge barriers in the long run.
So, heart or head? Present or future?
I don't know, but I have one week to decide, and it will not be easy.