Again, I value everybody’s input. I never thought I’d receive this many responses! I’m still absorbing all this information.
DetroitLeper, I definitely think we have similar interests! Northwestern and WUStL are in my top 10. Brandeis is not far, either.
For the past 3 days, aside from all the schools that were mentioned, here are the other names that interested me. These would be my schools that I would “reach” for (with consideration of my interest, Marketing – more on that below) : Indiana University (Bloomington), UNC Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, and Penn State. I’ll still have to look into each to see more, but I think I’ve heard many people being very satisfied with Penn State.
Yes, I’d definitely need clubs and extracurricular activities. As someone who can’t just rely on academics to keep themselves going, I need community service, clubs, student leadership, and music ensembles.
That’s interesting, hearing about how the college didn’t fit the postcard, as well as the “walls of vodka”. I plan on visiting UChicago, and from first glances, I might be able to tell something. But I’ll definitely take into consideration the experiences shared by intparent and YogoSothoth.
Northwestern would definitely be a better choice than Northeastern for me. From what I understand, Northeastern seems like a very factually-minded type of school. Northwestern, however, is known for their stellar music program, which I’m also interested as well, although I don’t plan to major in music. But if a school is known for their amazing music program, it must say something about the type of people attracted to the school as well.
I must say, a block schedule is appealing to me, but I don’t know how many schools have it. I’ve never experienced it before in my life, and I’ve always thought my school district should implement one. I enjoy a little bit of routine (such as physically going to a place to hangout, work, learn), but I hate having to do the EXACT same things everyday. I always like variety and to mix things up. In school, I would always fall asleep, because some classes were exactly the same for every day of the school year. Same time, same style, same people, same everything. Throughout the years, I’ve discovered that I’m initially opposed to some things, but when I force myself to try and just go for it, I often find the results rewarding. Maybe I’m not always open to everything, but when I get past that initial rejection, I also surprise myself at how I handle situations. So I guess this also applies to the kind of school I want. I want a school that is organized, communicative, with the extra flairs of being respectively apart from the norm, pushing the boundaries, and creating new definitions of the word “college.”
Forgive me, I realized I haven’t said what I’m interested in pursuing, although I think I’m one of those people that surprise others and myself. I get the sense that anything could happen to change my mind in college, but right now, I’m interested in marketing (which isn’t a major at some schools), which is the umbrella over advertising. I like how marketing combines everything – economics, statistics, sales, media, journalism, communications, psychology, finance, public relations. And most importantly, whether people realize it or not, everybody needs marketing and marketing principles. Companies need it to sell products, organizations need it to gain supporters, candidates need it for votes, and movements need it for strength. It’s also a little bit of understanding what people like and how they react, and all in all, I think I could apply marketing principles to a lot in life.
So, right now, I’m declaring my major as BA with a focus in Marketing, and I’ve decided to stay on this path, and if I veer on to a different path, so be it. I’d rather have a course to follow and then make my choices, rather than start completely lost and end up nowhere. And again, this is also kind of a part of my personality that I want in my college choice. A college that sets out to be something, but can turn into their own version of that something in the end and be unique.
Knowing history is important, but I think more important is what we learn from history, or how we change and adapt based on the historical knowledge. It’d be interesting to know what UChicago has been involved with recently, regarding race and social issues.
After seeing everybody’s contributions, I just have to say that this is a great resource for me. I wouldn’t be able to hear of this information anywhere else, so I’m really grateful for everybody who commented. I don’t know if Marketing and the type of college I’m looking for mix well, but again, I’m all ears for suggestions. I’ll continue to apply what I’ve heard to my search, but in light of Marketing, I’m really looking into Penn State. Has anybody spent time there recently?