Why I had no idea what I was looking for in a college - from a college senior

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hello. I am a college senior at Columbia. I remembered this forum from years ago, and I thought I would make a post or two with some tips that I really wish I had known about as a high schooler. I already made a post in the admissions board about what it takes to get into HYP, having gotten to know a lot of Ivy League kids over the years.</p>

<p>Basically, in high school, I had absolutely no idea what I was looking for in a college. I had no idea who I was as a person. Maybe I still don't, but I think I'm a lot farther along that path than I was then. I was brilliant and rightly wanted to maximize my potential, but I was extremely insecure and I went about it the wrong way entirely: by wanting to get into the most impressive school possible.</p>

<p>I don't really know how to organize this post, so I guess I'll just throw out some random ideas.</p>

<p>First of all, going to an elite school is awesome, and it can change your life, but probably not for the reasons that you think it will. It's really not that important where you go when it comes to academics. Of course, in some instances, going to a particular school with a particular teacher will change your life and propel you to great heights that you would have not otherwise touched. But, that is very rarely the case, and it's just about impossible to know where that place would be when you're in high school.</p>

<p>College is life. College isn't different from life itself. College isn't a name on a degree or a prestigious department or a big library. College is four of the most formative years of your existence as a human being. The kind of people you choose to associate with, your level of comfort, your development as an independent person who, if you are anything like me, had absolutely no idea how to do things like pay bills, shop for food, keep a living space clean etc., are all far, far more important than the superficial things that you can learn about in college guides.</p>

<p>I paid almost zero attention to the location of colleges that I applied to, and even less attention to what kind of people populated the student body, with the lone exception of trying to figure out which college had the most intelligent student body (yes, I was obsessed with being smart).</p>

<p>It's time for a big wake-up call for those of you looking at the Ivies: not everyone there is brilliant. And not every brilliant person is a "good" or happy person. A lot of people at Columbia are superficial, morally corrupt, lazy morons. I know that may be hard to believe, but I swear it's true. Of course, a lot of people here are hard-working, talented, and on a "mission to change the world." But not all that many. And I don't think there are many more of those people at Columbia than there are at any average, large state school. Many of the most interesting, brilliant, and focused people are still those I knew from high school, and a lot of them went to state schools or places like Vanderbilt or Washington and Lee.</p>

<p>The culture of the city and student body are going to influence you in ways you could never fathom. For those of you considering Columbia, for instance - are you prepared to be surrounded by many people who care as much about how expensive your shoes are as who your favorite philosopher is? Of course there are those people everywhere, but a lot of people at Columbia are really into fashion and what's hip and trendy. Are you prepared to be surrounded by loud-mouthed liberals, to be handed socialist (literally) leaflets as you walk around campus? Are you prepared to witness regularly homosexual PDA both on and off campus? Are you prepared to be asked for money by smelly homeless people (who are often drug addicts, high and/or drunk) almost every time you go out? Are you prepared to be surrounded by concrete for nine months of the year and to deal with the smell of trash on the street all the time? Now that's not to say that there aren't amazing things about NYC culture that I have picked up. For instance, I became a vegetarian, which I can't imagine I would have if I had stayed in the South, and I'm very happy with that decision. But the culture shock of moving from a suburb in the South to Manhattan had me reeling for at least two years of my college experience.</p>

<p>How are your social skills? What kind of people do you want to be friends with, and how do you plan to meet them? Do you drink or use drugs? If not, do you plan to in college? If so, do you think you can practice moderation with no one there to watch over you? Drug addiction DOES affect wonderful, intelligent people - it happened to me and it can happen to you. Are you sexually active? How do you imagine your sex life in college? Are you comfortable with your sexuality?</p>

<p>All of these kinds of things are infinitely more important than the average SAT score of the college you are going to. I know it's obvious, and I know that a thousand sources tried to convey to me the same kind of thing, if perhaps a little bit differently. But really, it's true. The difference between going to Harvard or Georgetown is going to have hardly anything to do with the kinds of things a college guide is going to tell you about. The difference is going to come down to things like social factors, your comfort level, the people you meet, the activities you pursue...</p>

<p>So, if you're just like me and are obsessed with getting into Harvard, PLEASE take a moment and ask yourself why. I'm not saying Harvard isn't a great experience. I am glad I went to Columbia, and I can't say I would do a whole lot differently even with this knowledge. But I would have been a lot more in tune with who I was as a person, how sure I was of what I wanted to be when I grow up and what kind of person I wanted to be in college, what kind of people I wanted to be surrounded by... 95% of people change their majors in college, so unless you are 100% sure you want to be an engineer and are those applying early to MIT, DON'T WORRY about what teachers are at what school. It's probably going to be some random TA who somehow connects with you and inspires in you the passion to pursue some topic that you had little interest in before college that is really going to make your life better, not the fact that college X has two Nobel Prize winners in X department.</p>

<p>To heck with prestige and get in touch with yourself. When you get to college, seek out GOOD PEOPLE. Be prepared for culture shock and to be humbled by having to learn a thousand stupid little things you never realized you would have to learn.</p>

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<p>Very nice.</p>

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<p>Very Nice.</p>

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<p>What you say about your experience at Columbia could be said about ANY experience at ANY school.</p>

<p>What you say is well said, and should be read by all high school seniors. You speak the truth.</p>

<p>What you say stands the test of time. Take it from someone old enough to be your mother.</p>

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<p><strong><em>Amen!</em></strong></p>

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<p>Yes, nice post. But when you were a high school senior, would you have listened to someone (a college senior, parent, high school counselor) who had told you exactly what you wrote?</p>

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<p>^oh lol…hahahaha</p>

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<p>I’m from NYC, can’t wait to get out of here though. Nice post.</p>

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<p>Fixed your post.</p>

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<p>A lot of people at all schools are superficial, morally corrupt, lazy morons.</p>

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<p>Well put, TS, but I don’t really think that you’ve had these revelations about the college selection process - I think you’ve had them about yourself and your own values. And that is one of the outcomes of a truly outstanding educational experience. You note that “a lot of people at Columbia are superficial, morally corrupt, lazy morons” and that “many of the most interesting, brilliant, and focused people . . . went to state schools or places like Vanderbilt or Washington and Lee.” Quite true, but there are superficial, amoral morons as well as interesting and brilliant people at all reasonably selective schools. I would suggest that the goals and aspirations of your Columbia peers are, on the whole, higher than those of students at the typical university, but you’ve come to the conclusion that there are things that you value more highly than lofty aspirations. You haven’t learned so much about looking for schools with good peers as you’ve learned about looking for good peers wherever you are. That’s the best key to success that I know.</p>

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<p>Brilliant post. Especially for the people here at CC.</p>

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<p>A lot of people are morons.</p>

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<p>That is a good post man. I’m applying for college myself at the moment, and I’m applying to Brown and a few other northern uni’s. Brown students (from what I’ve experienced here) are very laid back and unpretentious. I want to go NORTH haha. I don’t want to go to Tulane because of the drug activity. So yeah I completely understand.</p>

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<p>Thanks TP, very well said.
But I was hoping it could be our little secret- that the Ivies aren’t always the best place to be.</p>

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<p>loved this post!.. and omg… i applied to columbia ed!</p>

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<p>Very true. I am sending this to my kids.</p>

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<p>Terrapin, this was a really thought-provoking post, especially given that you’re now a senior, and in a great position to evaluate your school and what became important to you over the last four years.</p>

<p>If you were advising a HS junior (and her parents :)) on how best to evaluate schools, what would you say? Would you advise more overnight visits? Somehow connecting to current students by email? It seems like the websites and glossy viewbooks rarely tell the whole story. Current students don’t post on CC very often. Sometimes their parents do, but I imagine their perception of student life is pretty inaccurate. </p>

<p>Increasingly, I’m understanding the importance of the qualities of the peer group in college, being more important than many other factors. Some schools seem to be made of a mosaic of lots of diverse sub-cultures. Others seem to have a little more cookie-cutter student bodies that attract like students. Personally, I think the mosaic is more valuable, but I see the attraction of a propective student walking onto a campus and seeing “his people.”</p>

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<p>Not quite sure what is meant by post #3, but just to clarify – if any such clarification is necessary – I meant by my post #2 to convey only my sincere agreement with the sentiments expressed.</p>

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<p>See, while I agree with you that subjective factors matter much more than things like SAT scores, I don’t understand how a high school student is supposed to make college choices based on this - especially considering a student’s class (and 1/4 of the college) isn’t even known until the first day of school.</p>