Overwhelmed

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I graduated high school this past June and am still amid my frustrating and overwhelming college search. I live in Grove City, Ohio where most people flock to Ohio State and other surrounding colleges. I was enrolled in 'distance learning' for the past 3 years so I was and am at home A LOT. </p>

<p>We took tours of Ohio State Columbus and Newark. The Newark campus was really bad in my opinion. In the bathroom I tried to use soap and black stuff came out... The Columbus one was cool but 50,000 people is a lot.</p>

<p>We also toured Bowling Green and Wright State, both of which were something of dissappointments when I got there. Ohio University was the only other local interest but we haven't toured there. I'd like to play soccer in college or atleast somewhere and OU doesn't have it. But now that I'm so overwhelmed OU will probably be an option.</p>

<p>One day I will be feeling excited and hopefuly and the next, like today, I feel overwhelmed and frustrated and worried. I want to go to college in an intersting place but not for a humungous price. I applied to Exeter(England) but that doesn't look like that will work out. I was going to apply to Richmond(London) but the tuition is over 30K. I also applied to Hawaii Pacific University and the tuition there is 24K which I dont know if it is good or bad. It's cheaper than Capital which is near here.</p>

<p>I want to make a good choice but also do not want to be left alone at home this Fall. I want to get to a college and start a life but this whole thing is so overwhelming and confusing. I don't know where to look. I feel like I have to go back to the beginning in a way. I don't know what to do.</p>

<p>So I geuss my questions are as follows. First, can anyone relate to me and what I'm feeling? I hope so.</p>

<p>Second, there is nothing wrong with waiting and starting somewhere in the winter or spring right? But what do I do in the meantime? I'm sick of sitting at home and being bored.</p>

<p>Third, can you give me an honest opinion of Hawaii Pacific? It looks pretty good and it has soccer. I'm a little worried over the amount of majors available and the cost of tuition vs. smaller regional campuses here. The website is <a href="http://www.hpu.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.hpu.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>One major thing on my mind is wanting to get to college in an interesting place but I don't want to be in debt or huge debt when I'm done. It's so frustrating. Please any advice?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>Hmm. I think you are feeling overwhelmed because you aren't really sure what you are looking for. So you know you want an "interesting place". Large campus? Small campus? Urban? Suburbs? Rural? What major? You want to play soccer...are you a competitive player? Looking for DIV 3? Div 2? or are you looking for a school with intramural or club soccer?
There is nothing wrong with starting in the spring but you will need to define what you are looking for and get going. Do you want to be close to home? How many hours drive?
I understand that it can be overwhelming. My own son was lucky in that he knew he wanted to major in a particular field, wanted to be in the city, wanted to be on the East coast, etc. He applied to 5 schools, ended up going to his first choice.<br>
I think if you define it a bit you will find the right thing. If you can answer some of my questions, I will post some suggestions and so will others...</p>

3

<p>I agree with the above OP -- it sounds like you feel this way because you don't know what you want in a school. Try googling a list of things to look for in a college and create some decisive opinions. This will inevitably narrow your list of prospective colleges down.</p>

<p>Some basic factors to keep in mind are admissions (are you competitive enough to get into these colleges?) and tuition (how much can you and your parents pay?). The latter question is something you will probably have to talk with your parents about. I'm sure they won't be too thrilled to shell out 24k a year, unless you completely decided and thrilled about your choice.</p>

<p>I can't give you advice on Hawaii Pacific, but I'm from Ohio (Cols) so I can easily help out with Ohio schools. Perhaps because of some bias, I am eager to suggest that you look at schools within Ohio -- it's not lacking quality institutions. Furthermore, instate tuition is going to be a lot less cheaper than out of state.</p>

<p>OSU is a great option if you can learn to dig the size. Although 50,000 sounds intimidating, living in a dorm and joining clubs eases the vastness. Plus, many of those students are graduates, and both undergrads and grads commute making the place less congested. Besides that, you'll have tons of academic resources and an entire city for a social scene. If you want an "interesting" place but not a hefty price tag, this is a good option. Bowling Green isn't a bad option, either. It's comparatively small (15,000), but I've heard from current students that it's a boring place to be socially. Wright State is the same way, and maybe to a worser extent with its surrounding area. Personally, I think the BG campus is better.</p>

<p>However, these schools, the ones you have mentioned, are only a limited selection of possibilities. Ohio Northern University has only 2,500 students and a good academic reputation. The University of Dayton (right next to Wright) is bigger with 7,000 students, and has the stronger program. Kent, Xavier, College of Wooster, and Denison might be some other good options. Do some research, seriously!</p>

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<p>OP please post again and answer some of the questions...I really want to offer more help and I'm sure others do too...</p>

5

<p>I go to Bowling Green . . . if you have any questions, I could probably anwser them.</p>

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<p>My uncle actually teaches part-time at Denison but he says it's very expensive. I need to research it more but it does seem like it would be a good option. Could you give me some facts and figures and opinions on Denison?</p>

<p>Hawaii Pacific's tuition is around 25K a year including room and board. Last night I got the acceptance call for this Fall. We realized that my FAFSA stuff isn't there yet so the advisor said to make sure all the financial aid stuff is complete before I officially go and accept it. Also, the housing is a lil limited and I'd have to live in a privately owned apartment building with other college students. Does anyone know from experience what off-campus housing is like? I'm concerned about noise level and such.</p>

<p>Oh and also, how do these colleges expect people to pay for such expensive prices? The only reasonable ones seem to be community colleges and regional campuses.</p>

7

<p>Academics:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.denison.edu/publicaffairs/pressreleases/best_value_3-06.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.denison.edu/publicaffairs/pressreleases/best_value_3-06.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.denison.edu/publicaffairs/pressreleases/classof2010.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.denison.edu/publicaffairs/pressreleases/classof2010.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.denison.edu/admissions/glance.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.denison.edu/admissions/glance.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Athletics:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.denison.edu/athletics/db/site/newsreleases/fo/20060627_2003.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.denison.edu/athletics/db/site/newsreleases/fo/20060627_2003.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>