@1Dreamer Thanks so much. Really - I wish you were in charge of all college counseling and such because I feel loads better. I guess the smaller, residential system at Rice would be great for freshman year, but I would fear by my senior year I’d either love the roughly 80 (?) other seniors in my college, only be friends with a few of them, only have friends in other colleges, or just feel like I’m suffocating, as you said. Being surrounded by endless people, pretty much on my own, is incredibly exciting - and a great type of scary. UT will push me in other ways besides academics, and I definitely feel that at Rice it would be a lot more hand holding and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to put myself out there into foreign environments and forge my own way. Also, the lack of school spirit I felt at Rice really bummed me out… I don’t want to feel like I just happen to to be in the same place as all these other students!
Your personal experience definitely helped and now I just have to move on and quit looking back and second guessing.
@PurpleTitan I’m definitely trying to separate the friends I made from the general vibe I got of the people there, and from the samples I’ve gotten (and the beauty of the Internet), I think I made the right choice.
And thank you for such an intriguing question. I suppose that primarily my 30 year old self would want me to choose wherever will get me the most money for the future lol. But I really think I want to look back and be able to say I picked the place that made me happiest and not because of prestige or the ego boost I would get out of telling people where I went. I know prestige in 15 years definitely will not matter, only what I did with the opportunities I was given.
I just wish people would stop acting like I killed my first born child when I tell them I picked Honors at UT over Rice :((
@bwulv24 I clicked on your name and found saw a post of yours with a little more background. You were published 4x by HuffPo, 3x by another magazine (once in print), 2x by a literary magazine (once in print)? Not hard to believe given your communication skills here, but that’s pretty spectacular IMO. And you were accepted to Brown too? Jeesh. You never mentioned that here. And the way you accepted that Brown wasn’t going to be in the cards for you in that post as well as some pearls of wisdom you shared with others who may find themselves in the same boat showed a maturity beyond your years. Is there a humbleness award on CC I can nominate you for? LOL. I’m not trying to embarrass you here, but you are one impressive guy (really) and you deserve to hear it.
I’m going to remind you of a few of your own words from that post, just in case you have any further doubts.
You don’t need anyone’s advice other than your own! I believe that “making a difference” is the ultimate measure of success, and I think you are going to be a success wherever you go and whatever you do.
@1Dreamer Thank you so much! Brown was the dream for years, but $200,000 in debt from undergrad definitely was not the dream
I suppose it’s easier to view other peoples’ experiences more objectively than my own, so it looks like it’s time to start taking my own advice (especially that last point - how could I forget I wrote that!). Also, I know there’s going to be so many amazing people just like all the others I’ve had the privilege to meet this year no matter where I go, and that’s what makes me really, really excited.
Now it’s time to blow my college fund on some Longhorn shirts
I believe that “making a difference” is the ultimate measure of success, and I think you are going to be a success wherever you go and whatever you do.