With less than a week to the deadline for my final decision on where I should spend at least the next four years of my life, I am quite torn. I applied to way to many colleges in the first place in anticipation of not getting admitted to very many, but ended up getting into all 14, including Colgate, Hamilton, Wellesley, Vanderbilt, Emory, Duke, Bryn Mawr, and Rice.
I have visited each and every one of the colleges I have applied to, and from what knowledge I have, Duke, Bryn Mawr, and Rice have become my three favourites, and although I adored Wellesley, it is a 17 hour drive from where I life and flying is not an option as it is too expensive to do so. The others were too far away and/or too expensive and I wasn’t quite able to see myself at them.
In addition, I have qualified for absolutely no aid from any of the colleges I listed save for Bryn Mawr, who offered me almost half tuition. A few put me in various scholar programs, but these were not accompanied by any form of money. This brings in another issue on top of the initial one of being unable to decide which one would be the best fit: should I really for over almost a quarter of a million dollars over four years as opposed to going to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where I have been offered full tuition and housing for all four years? Would I ever really break even if I decided to sell a kidney or two to be able to afford the more prestigious options?
I suppose I should give a little information about myself so that anyone who can help me out will have more to go on. I adore food of all kinds, cats, and, ironically, sleeping. I prefer a close group of really good friends over sort-of knowing a lot of people in a large group, greek life gives me the willies, although I can talk to just about anyone, really. I am a little slow to warm up to people, which concerns me because I have heard that the friends you make within the first few weeks in college tend to be the ones you stay with the whole time. I am a bit of a nerd in that I have been known to spend a whole day clutching an xbox controller or EV training some Pokemon. With this being said, I love outdoor activities (mountains, not the beach), despite my tendency to waste extraordinary amounts of time on tumblr. I am also queer, so a place receptive to people of the LGBT+ community would be a huge plus. I am apathetic to sports, but enjoy art and music.
I guess what’s the most important is that I graduate with little to no regrets, have learned a lot and met extraordinary people and have made strong connections and ultimately end up in a good place for the rest of my life, whether it be grad/professional school or the work force. I have had a long-time dream of being at the forefront of whatever I end up doing and loving it, so really, I want to know which institution will give me the best shot at this goal. Thanks in advance.
What do you want to major in? Yes, you told us your FA situation but how much will it impact your family? My family got 3k from Duke and I would have to go 50-70k in debt for it, so I took it out of the running (coincedentally I was also accepted to Rice, like you. Hopefully I can help.)
My vote is for Rice. Your personality seems to mesh with Rice quite well (also it’s less expensive than Duke!). Rice also has residential college system, so you will be super close with your college and maybe could then take that time to warm up to other people in ECs or class. Duke’s separated campus may disjoint you from making friends with people from all grades/classes. Rice’s music school is top ten I believe, and many non-majors can join music activities. Rice is also in the museum district, with tons of art and cultural opportunities (although Nasher at Duke is lovely). I don’t think either school is in the mountains and Texas beaches are kinda ugly, but the rest of Texas and North Carolina are a BEAUT. Maybe you can take a Spring Break trip to Big Bend – one of my favorite places on Earth. I’m queer too. I think the LGBT scene is strong at both, although I visited Rice for like 4 hours on Friday while I was at Duke for BDD, so to me Duke’s is more prominent (but I went to their socials and stuff). I also don’t like Greek life but it is loud at Duke. A lot of the guys I saw where very fratty, whereas there is no greek life at Rice. I think you’re perfect for Rice haha.
I left Bryn Mawr out of the discussion cause I know nothing about it except that one of my friends goes there.
I am stuck between Rice and USC (maybe you can help me out at my thread?). We sound very similar though so if let me know your final choice and if we both pick Rice we can meet up or something!
I’m not quite sure what my major will be, I’m just fairly confident that it will be in a STEM-related field. With that being said, I love to explore outside of this interest and who knows, may realize I’d prefer a major elsewhere.
I googled Big Bend, and the pictures look beautiful.
Thank you for your perspective. I think I have become set on Rice after talking more with my family, and who knows, if you go there too, I may see you next fall.
Also, I wouldn’t mind taking a look at your thread, but I have no idea how to get there. (I’m not often very active on CC, so I don’t quite know what I’m doing…)