<p>I have been considering this- do you think it is really better to attend a "fit" (as far as student body goes) or somewhere that might encourage you to take a different point of view?</p>
<p>I was thinking about this because, regarding general reputation (which, I realize is not applicable to all students that attend a particular school) I would be a fit at Swarthmore, UChicago, JHU, etc. I am a "life of the mind" person to the extreme, and love an "intellectual" atmosphere. This breeds perfectionism, intense focus on a subject, and a meticulous thinking style. However, I am also very uptight, neurotic, and obsessive, as demonstrated by my current relentless study of colleges.
I think it might benefit me to go to somewhere more like Williams, Bowdoin, etc.- somewhere that might help counterbalance my extreme personality. Note that I am using these colleges examples, but I also mean to include less selective colleges with a similar student body.</p>
<p>This is actually important, because one's environment heavily influences mood and behavior. Especially the more isolated said environment is/ the more cut off from the "real world."</p>
<p>You’re thinking in extremes. You could choose a school where you’d feel more comfortable but try summer school or a guest semester at Party U. If you like it, then you can try to transfer. If you don’t, you can count the days until it’s over.</p>
<p>haverford is a good one along the lines of what you are looking for, I still feel one of the best all around schools is muhlenberg college and right up there is hendrix college.</p>
<p>You Sound like me.
I think you should look for a school that offers the resources to put your obsession into something “constructive”. Easier said than done But I feel that it is really important to have an area in you life that you cannot be perfect in, that actually “bothers” you and occupies your mind because you struggle and not succeed compared to your own standards. I think that a college that is too intellectual might not expose you to those kinds of activities - or will actually encourage obsessiveness. So I would look for a college that is a good fit, but still challenges you in a way. People should be as ambitious as you, but each in their own way, so that you may benefit from that diversity in talent and passion. The academic part of college is important, but I would argue that the personal growth and exploration of the world as you perceive it is even more important.</p>
<p>Sophie, thanks. Your reply is spot on. I was torn between feeding the obsession- for it is easy to continue down the same path- and attempting to be more open and have different experiences. I agree that the latter will ultimately be much more beneficial (and at least less likely to worsen my negative characteristics.)
Now the difficulty simply lies in finding such colleges!</p>
For what it’s worth, I was a lot like you in high school. Very academically focused, kind of quirky, intensely interested in a subject and planning on graduate school. I applied to Chicago and was ecstatic when I got in. Well…the only problem was its financial aid offer was pretty pathetic. I wound up at Duke instead - got a great education and had fun along the way. I managed to find myself a niche of similar people but also became more outgoing and capable of handling pretty much any kind of social environment. In retrospect, I think I grew more at Duke than I would’ve at Chicago, though obviously I’ll never know for sure.</p>
<p>I think that “fit” for me refers more to the school in general. The general intelligence, the size, the weather, sports (if you care), etc. The school I’ve applied ED to is pretty liberal, not southern, etc. and I’m fairly conservative, from SC, etc. I think that some school probably is really intellectual, while also not having too many crazy people, haha.</p>
But I feel that it is really important to have an area in you life that you cannot be perfect in, that actually “bothers” you and occupies your mind because you struggle and not succeed compared to your own standards. I think that a college that is too intellectual might not expose you to those kinds of activities - or will actually encourage obsessiveness. So I would look for a college that is a good fit, but still challenges you in a way. People should be as ambitious as you, but each in their own way, so that you may benefit from that diversity in talent and passion. The academic part of college is important, but I would argue that the personal growth and exploration of the world as you perceive it is even more important.</p>