Warm sand, cool surf, beach volleyball … oh wait, that’s college spring break. High school spring break doesn’t quite have the same epic adventure associated with it. But nonetheless, spring break is coming up which means you probably have a week off of school and are in need of some decent plans. So what’s a high school student to do?
ROAD TRIP!!
Again, maybe not a made-for-TV-movie road trip, but think about heading out with your folks and visit a few colleges within driving distance*. I can’t stress enough how important it is to check out campuses. You will be amazed at how great you might think a school is… and then you set foot on campus. You’ll see the students, feel the vibe, take a student-lead tour, maybe even sit in on a class, and your entire perspective might change. You might realize this is exactly the kind of school you want to attend, or you might realize that this is not at all what you imagined. Regardless, getting out and visiting schools near your home is a great way to spend spring break and to explore colleges. Even if you aren’t interested in your local university, it might be worth checking out just so you can wrap your head around what it’s like to go a school with 20,000+ students. I know I was in a bit of a shock when I walked into an Economics lecture that had more students than my entire (400 person) high school. It’s hard to grasp without experiencing it.
Do you already have plans for spring break? Share them! The comments section is here for you guys to converse with one another or ask any questions of me or WiseChoice. And if you do road trip to some colleges over spring break, definitely let me know how it goes!
* One important watch-out: before you go, make sure it’s not also spring break for any college you plan to visit. If it is, the campus will be empty and you will not get a true idea of what the school is really like.
Are you like me, lying awake at night, pondering the great questions of the universe, wondering what is the difference between a university and a college? (Or, is there a difference?) If so, then fret no more, you will rest easy tonight! I have used the terms “college” and “university” interchangeably on this blog and I figured I owed it to you to research the differences and share what I learned. I learned that I was right all along… well, kind of.
I always thought the differences between the two was that a university is made up of various colleges (College of Arts and Humanities, College of Education, College of Chemical and Life Sciences, etc.), whereas a college is an institution specializing in just one of those fields of study, and that colleges are usually smaller than universities (up to 12,000 students vs. up to 56,000). But then I started thinking of schools with “college” in their names, like Dartmouth and Boston Colleges and realized they offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in arts, science, business, and more… So, like Rebecca in “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” and every other person with internet access, I Googled it.
The long and the short of it is, there really is not a hard-line distinction between colleges and universities in the U.S. anymore, but allow me to take you on a historical trip to explain.
The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy was the first university in the western world, tracing its roots to 1088. Ten eighty-eight! We’re talking some serious history here. Oxford University, the oldest university in the English-speaking world, located in Oxford, England, established its first “dorms” in the 13th century. And by “dorms” I mean medieval residence halls protecting the students from the rioting townies. Hundreds of years later, in 1636, Harvard College—the oldest operating college in the U.S.—was founded in what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts. The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia followed in 1693, as did St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1696. When these fledgling schools were founded in the American colonies, they were obviously much smaller and in a totally different league than their European counterparts, so they deemed themselves colleges, unworthy of the university title (Harvard became a true university around the late eighteenth century). Flash forward to 1862, when the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act encouraged states to establish colleges, many focused on agriculture and mechanical research (that’s where you get those A&M schools) and that started our state college system.
So… now-a-days some colleges function as universities, but retain the college name for historical purposes or to designate their undergraduate institutions. There are also colleges by other names such as Institutes or Academies (for example, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. Naval Academy) but essentially, most four-year colleges and universities offer degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and the real differences lie within the individual personalities of the institutions, which is precisely why it’s important to visit each campus. And now you know more than you did, and that’s what it’s all about!
Hi, my name is Natalia and I am currently a high school senior, hoping to study engineering in college. Like many of you, I am in the process of choosing and applying to colleges; I started with a list of over 20 schools, but I managed to eliminate about ten from my list. If you do the math, I saved about $600 in application fees. So how did I choose which schools I would eventually apply to? I did a college visit with every school on my list. I used to be one of those students who thought I could make a decision on the university I’d attend just by reviewing the schools’ websites and brochures, but when I tried to shorten my list, I realized that wasn’t helping me. Luckily, my high school offers juniors an opportunity to take a college visit of in-state colleges. I live in Florida and there is a state-wide scholarship here that helps students who are residents pay for collegiate education within the state. My high school encourages all students to apply to in-state colleges, and the college visits help the students get excited about state schools.
With state schools flooding my list, I decided to go on the college visits and see what more information I could get. When I got there I realized that the tour guides really didn’t have much to say outside of what I already knew, unless someone asked a question about a specific topic. But you can do this over the phone or even through email. So what’s the big deal with visiting schools?
When you visit a college, you realize that sometimes the pictures on the flyers can be deceiving. You might see the pictures and think, “wow, that’s beautiful,” but until you actually visit, you won’t know if the place really is as great as it seems. The environment has to fit the student. If you feel uncomfortable in college, you won’t be able to concentrate properly. The people at the college also play a huge part of the college experience. Visiting colleges lets you get a feel for the type of people who attend that university. The people might be too shy or too outgoing for you, but only you can say which crowd is the right crowd for you.
I understand that your high school might not offer these types of trips, but try to visit colleges on your own and if possible, try to arrange for an overnight stay. I definitely recommend visiting colleges because whether you fall in love or are disappointed by a college, visiting is the only way to figure out how much you really like a certain university.
Good luck with your search and happy holidays.
Planning for college can definitely be intimidating. After all, there are THOUSANDS of colleges out there, each with beautiful web sites and brochures of students studying on the “quad” or bicycling through the fall leaves. It’s enough to make you think that no matter where you go, you will have a wonderful college experience. You just need to focus on your SAT, GPA, and essays to submit strong college applications.
Right?
But don’t be fooled, because reality can strike hard. That college that you never visited but really meant to—can quickly turn into a big regret. Perhaps you thrive in a competitive academic environment and find the students in your classes to be apathetic. Or maybe the campus doesn’t offer the activities you love to do in your free time. College acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean college satisfaction.
The WiseChoice survey of over 800 current college freshmen all across the U.S. found that 1/3 are already thinking about transferring, and it’s only November. What’s surprising is that many of the reasons cited for transferring—campus setting, nothing in common with other students, too conservative/liberal—could easily have been addressed if only these students had done more research in advance on their selected school.
So, take a breather and start thinking about what is really important to you in a college. Visit colleges and talk to the students on campus. (You can count on the students to give you the real scoop!) What is the “vibe” on the campus? Ask, “Do I belong here?” Don’t make any rush decisions. Remember, this is about finding a college that is right for you and not based on where your friends or parents want you to go.
By finding a college that fits your personality, learning style, personal preferences, and your budget, you have a much greater chance of being satisfied and successful with your college of choice, with many new friends to hang out with instead of filling out new applications to transfer. So, take your time now, do your research, and skip the transfer later!
Just the other day I learned that colleges and universities like to see prospective students actively demonstrating interest in their school. Attending a college fair or fairs is one of the early steps in demonstrating that yes, you really are interested in a particular school and this makes the inevitable decision process of “which college do I attend” that much easier on you.
Think of it this way: let’s say that you attend a college fair at the end of your sophomore year of high school. You will already have an idea of the type(s) of school(s) you would like to apply to, thus giving you an opportunity to see whether or not a school might be the right fit for you.
I never attended a college fair. There is no reason why I skipped out on that part of the process. I remember there being a few in the Albany area (where I’m from) but the featured schools were only Albany area schools. I had long before decided that I didn’t want to attend a school close to home and that any school I applied to had to have a strong political science program. In my experience, I didn’t find the college fairs that were offered up- to-par. This of course will be different for you since college fairs are a) NOT few and far between and b) they are often set up so that schools of similar size or geographic area are at the same fair. It is far easier to walk between booths of small size private schools or a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) all at once. So find the next college fair in your area and attend. Then come back here and tell me all about it.
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