College Knowledge: A Hunting We Will Go

In the spring and summer life is blooming; cute baby bunnies wiggle their noses, the birds call sweetly to others and make their nests. But your charmed spring and summer has died; you are now on your college search.

At least that is what the most dramatic person would say. This person thinks it is the time of suffering, but no, that will come later! This is not the time you will forfeit education and hide from academia in a cave (which will sometimes sound very pleasant). This is not the time for a prospective student to beg for a college’s attention! This is, in fact, the time to bring out your inner snob.  

The college hunter must “poo poo” the colleges they don’t want, and “put a little
consideration” into the ones they like or even adore!

The prospective student should refine his or her taste before going on a college trip. Do they want a big college or a small college? A college in the city or in a rural setting? A party school or a studious school?

For example, I knew that I was, and still am, a person who likes small communities, deplores loud noises and is a tiny bit of a nerd. Therefore I wanted a small college that was NOT in a city and had a studious student body. I therefore only looked at small, suburban colleges.

Some aren’t quite sure what they want yet and should take trips to colleges on both ends of the spectrum. And hey, it’s all up to you (and the parents who have to take you to all those places, so kids, try to be nice).

While at a college it is best to take a tour, go to an information session, talk to some students to get a sense of the school environment and (I wish I had dramatic music) brave an interview.

I haven’t heard of a college which demands an interview, but if you do well at an interview it can help your application. And if you don’t do all too well, they say they don’t hold it against you. That of course does not mean you should curse at your interviewer or give him or her a
fat lip; now that would ruin your application, and spice up your criminal record.

Finding a school you like should be fun, and if you fall for a college it will be like a cliché love story. I will shame myself to tell you all that I wrote my college’s name and my name in a big heart, several times... in my note book….

So visit and read up on those colleges! And don’t worry now about rejection or acceptance, just find a good mix of perhaps eight colleges you will apply to; a few safeties and a few reaches. And hey, at the end of the process you might find a college you love, too!