Having trouble finding a college that I LOVE

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I've got a "list" of eight schools currently: Maryland (instate), Miami, Southern Cal, Clemson, Villanova, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Georgetown.</p>

<p>Maryland and Miami are my top two but neither of them are PERFECT. I feel like most kids find a school they REALLY want to attend and as soon as they are accepted jump at the opportunity. I don't have that. Also, people say you are supposed to be willing to go to any school on your list if you have to. I'm not sure I could.</p>

<p>My problem with Maryland - the weather isn't very good and I'm not sure I want to be with my entire HS in college. I know that's only two but those two are HUGE to me. I like pretty much everything else about the school though.</p>

<p>My problem with Miami - The clubbing thing (instead of house parties, etc) and the "rich stuck up" people that come with it. I love the weather, the campus, and the school spirit among other things. I also have doubts of the quality of the business school (even though its top 50) but I can probably get a pretty good job if I keep my grades up.</p>

<p>My problem with Southern Cal - the distance. I don't think I want to go that far even though I thought I was willing to about a year ago.</p>

<p>My problem with Clemson - very conservative campus. More of a safety for me (I think). Haven't visited but I have heard there is not much to do around campus.</p>

<p>My Problem with Villanova/Georgetown - The weather and the religious focus.</p>

<p>My problem with Virginia/Wake Forest - Weather isn't great and a very southern feel. For example, people dress up for lots of things - which really isn't my style.</p>

<p>What I'm looking for in a school:
Warm Weather
Big Time Sports (varsity and club/intramural)
Good business school
Good math school (not many people know those rankings though - if they even exist)
Good overall school
Alcohol & partying there for me to enjoy when I want to, but not a must wednesday through sunday.
Nice Campus (including the food on it and availability of fast food such as taco bell, 7/11, mcdonalds, etc)
Nice Dorms
Smallerish? (The smaller the better I guess but as long as its not like 40 thousand)</p>

<p>My academic profile:
3.89 UW GPA
4.59 W GPA
2100 SAT (770 M, 700 W, 630 CR)
Paying Job for 2 years
4 year varsity tennis player (2 year captain)
Math & Science National Honor Society
250+ SSL hours</p>

<p>So what schools can you all recommend for me to look at? Thanks in advance :)</p>

2

<p>You are not supposed to fall in love with a college; they are supposed to fall in love with you :)</p>

<p>College is an industry, and each is a business. The one to fall in love with is only the one that will take you the furthest.</p>

3

<p>Georgetown may be Catholic, but it doesn’t really have a religious “focus”. </p>

<p>Is money no object?</p>

4

<p>Look at UNC-Chapel Hill. Top 10 business school, great sports, beautiful campus, lots to do.</p>

5

<p>All colleges have their drawbacks.</p>

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<p>Hate to be the one to break it to you, but no college is perfect. Look for what has the best combination of good stuff that’s important to you, and bad stuff that you can live with. </p>

<p>For future reference, here are a few other things that don’t exist: a perfect job, a perfect house, a perfect car, a perfect friend, a perfect spouse, or (especially) a perfect child.</p>

7

<p>^ So true. Perfect tends to come in small things. The perfect wallet, the perfect gardening tool. The perfect tie, socket wrench, or complement to fish. Take delight in those. </p>

<p>Meanwhile check out Vanderbilt and Duke. Or maybe a couple of LACs. Like Davidson, where you lose the big time sports and the business school, but gain maid service for your dorm room including laundry as I recall. How perfect is that?</p>

8

<p>Re previous post, no maid service at Davidson; laundry machines are free for students who wish to do their own laundry and there is also free laundry service in the sense that you can bring your laundry to a central laundry on campus where the laundry is then done for you. But given that the OP’s list seems to focus entirely on large schools it doesn’t seem as though any LAC would work, which is too bad because a lot of what the poster says he/she is looking for would be found at a lot of good LACs, including Davidson.</p>

9

<p>LasMas: Hate to be the one to break it to you, but no college is perfect. Look for what has the best combination of good stuff that’s important to you, and bad stuff that you can live with. </p>

<p>LasMas is right. You need to find a college that you will love to go to, but it won’t be “perfect.” Every college will have something you don’t like - a requirement, a rule, a prof or two, something. It’s like finding a spouse LOL ;)</p>

10

<p>I realize none are perfect. By perfect I meant not perfect but the school that fits most of what I’m looking for and one that I’d be jumping at the opportunity to attend should I get in.</p>

<p>Mom2CollegeKids - money is not an object. I agree that none are perfect. But some have bigger imperfections than others.</p>

<p>Cuse - What are my chances realistically at UNC? I heard its almost impossible OOS.</p>

<p>Tk - I will take a look at Davidson, thanks for the suggestion. Duke and Vanderbilt don’t have undergraduate business unfortunately.</p>

<p>MattMom - if you have any LAC suggestions, I’m willing to listen. But the sports thing is kind of big for me because one of the things I’m most excited for in college is intramurals/club sports and watching varsity sports.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any experience with the partying scene at Miami? Is there more than just clubbing (house parties, partying in dorms, etc)?</p>

11

<p>Yes, I think the OP is being too nitpicky. I’ve visited dozens of colleges - Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia, Midwest schools like Northwestern and UChicago, and West coast schools like Stanford, and I’ve never found a school I would call completely flawless. Sure, Harvard is wonderful, but lots of undergraduate classes are impersonal and taught mostly by TAs. Columbia’s great but it’s so expensive and there’s so many required classes that you end up spending something like $50,000 on classes irrelevant to your career… anyway, no school will ever be perfect, so just go with what holds the best place in your heart.</p>

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<p>ˆsecond UNC Chapel Hill</p>

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<p>It is very difficult to get in out-of-state, but with a 3.89 and a 2100 I’d say you have a shot. OOS admission is a crapshoot, but you’ll never know unless you apply.</p>

14

<p>In 5 of 8 assessments the OP pointed to weather as a concern. So while I agree UNC-CH is a good idea, though potentially a reach, I don’t see how UNC-CH’s weather is dramatically different than Wake Forest’s, or Clemson’s for that matter.</p>

<p>A desire for a decent business school, warm weather and big time college athletics pretty much limits your choices to SEC, Big 12, ACC and PAC-10 schools. Look at Florida, FSU and UTexas-Austin.</p>

15

<p>In many ways I think you are better off NOT being in love with any one college. Too many students fall in love and then are crushed when they are not admitted or go on to find out their true love was not nearly as perfect as they thought. It sounds like where ever you go, you will be going in with your eyes wide open to the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen school. Being realistic is a GOOD thing. There are some good suggestions here for other schools to look at. </p>

<p>I will tell you that of my 3 kids, 2 did not attend schools that they were initially in love with. There were things that they had reservations about. One has now graduated and the other is a senior. Both say they can’t imagine having gone anywhere else. The third attended the school he wanted from the beginning and was also quite happy there. You will make a good, educated choice. Once you do, it is up to you to make the best of that choice.</p>

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<p>well on the other hand if you pick a college that you don’t “love”, you may be miserable there and not take advantage of the opportunities there as opposed to if you were really involved in the school.</p>

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<p>shennie makes an excellent point. My D chose a college that she thought was darn near perfect. It’s a very good school, and an excellent fit for her. But when her expectations bumped up against the reality of a not-perfect place, she was so disillusioned that she’s had a hard time adjusting. A member of her school’s administration told me that kids who are a bit skeptical or for whom the school was 2nd choice, often do far better adjusting than kids like my D.</p>

<p>Choose a college that you love, but remember that there will inevitably be things that you don’t like about it, and you may not know until you get there.</p>

18

<p>

I agree unless your a student with outstanding stats.

Yeah resources the school offers and the area ( city etc…) would probably be a important factor base off your intended studies. I myself have been looking into not only what the school can offer for my intended studies, but what resources ( like internships, events etc…) could I possibly use to thelp me for future reference with careers, graduate etc… This can really become a hudge factor.
So in many instances its great that your not in love with a university, perhaps you like them all equally. Maybe you just don’t have a good ideal of what all exactly your looking for in a university and major factors.</p>

19

<p>You’re not going to find “perfect,” but you can certainly find one whose flaws are not “fatal.” Obviously weather is a huge factor for you, so use that and a few other criteria that are REALLY important, and don’t get hung up on criteria that are just slightly important (like apparently “size” is for you). U of Georgia sounds like it might be a nice fit.</p>

20

<p>you cant be a top sports school(at least for football) and have a small student body. unless its those FBS teams like boise or tcu. </p>

<p>i would take a guess and say vanderbilt, but they dont have an undergrad biz school. probably a good math program though</p>