<p>I’m currently a freshmen enrolled at Union College, its a pretty solid Liberal Arts College, not quite top 20 but it holds its own somewhere in the 30’s varying from year to year. Anyway the school itself is quite fine and I’d be happy enough (I think) so far to remain here for the next four years of my life but I’d like to be sure to keep oppertuntites open to potentially transfer if my current grievances with the school continue to bother me.</p>
<p>My major problem I’m feeling right now is intertwined between location and social structure. The campus is quite beautiful but if you leave the town is a dump, a slum, and crime infested ghetto. Now its certainly no Trinity/Hartford but this town has some major crime problems. Union has a strong reputation for having a very active campus filled with nonstop events, which to an extent is quite true. It simply isn’t a scene I’m into however, I’ve learnt that quickly in my first few weeks here that I don’t enjoy these organized social gatherings. Now this puts me in an awkuard spot, as the campus events I find rather lacking, and the town to only be useful if your a crack addict looking to grab some cheap coke up from NYC on its way through the rest of New England. I found myself filling all my time up with extra curriculars, luckily there are lots of interesting organazations here, and ones that aren’t if you catch my drift. I’ve become increasingly absorbed into my school work and have noticed I’m already in the works of putting together a most impressive resume for a Freshman.</p>
<p>I remeber everyone telling me I would be such a great student if I had some ambition, drive, and follow through. I’ll admit through my Freshman, Sophmore, and Junior years of HS I was one apathetic indifferent loser by my own current standards. Though midway through my Junior year something started getting my wheels rolling. What started at as a small campaign for some minor self improvement started becoming much more and by my senior year of Highschool I started putting out some solid grades (A’s and one B+). I managed to scrap together a decent list of extracuriculars and got a measily 1810 on the SAT’s and squeezed my way into Union College.</p>
<p>My last month of summer until the present have been ridiculous, I have never had so much ambition and focus in my life. Where my newfound discipline has come from I don’t know but I like the fact that its here and has been working wonders. This leads me to wonder about potential transfer options, Union College was a great choice for old me, but what about this new me which has shown up in the last quarter of the game.</p>
<p>I realized when I picked a college it wasn’t really my decision, I was so apathetic about the decision that I simply accepted my parents idea of what they wanted for me in a college as fact, not to be questioned and applied to schools accordingly. Now, I realize I do indeed want a school with a larger student body in a solid major American city, prefierably in the Northeast. I have a list but it isn’t concrete. </p>
<p>A couple questions:</p>
<li><p>SAT’s: I’ve been searching for a definintive answer as to whether College Freshman can retake SAT’s and even add subject tests. Needless to say my old SAT’s are pretty sorry and would severly reduce the chances of admittance to any reputable university. Can I retake them, or am I SOL, too little too late?</p></li>
<li><p>A hook: The one thing I’ve noticed was that colleges during my interviews were interested in the fact that I’m a pretty well expierenced Scuba Diver. Night Dives, Wreck Dives, Deep Dives (120feet) etc etc. Since those interviews I’ve done some more of that for my own pleasure but in November I have it set up to do some of the dives I’ve always dreamed of; Great White Shark Diving. I’ve had a love hate with these damn things all my love, hell a couple weeks ago me and a few friends went chumming a couple miles off the coast and attracted a pretty sizable blue shark. Something fascinates me about these things, I want to get in the water and see the king of these creatures for myself though. Not relying on that for a hook but do you think that might stand out as rather… well… interesting?</p></li>
<li><p>My resume from highschool resume/transcipts on their own would likely result in an undisputable rejection from any top university. Should I spend more than just my freshman year here at Union to draw their attention away from that, assuming my drive remains with me?</p></li>
<li><p>Lastly I’m having great difficulty finding how the unversities are ranked for specific undergraduate majors. I’m quite confident I’d like to major in Economics (not sure what specific branch), and if possible double major or minor Mathematics, or Political Science. Any suggestions? How does Tufts stack up for these majors? I know it excels in international relations but don’t know much else.</p></li>
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<p>whew, wow that was quite the post… hopefully somone has the patience to read the damn thing.</p>