Assignment 7 - Gloria Dietz

No one has everything figured out.  For me, college is one of those things, and I’m simply not sure where is best for me.  I’ve always been an indecisive person, especially when deciding things that could majorly affect my future. In fact, I actually accepted an invitation to Dunbar’s MSTC program an hour before the deciding deadline, and then a day later I realized I didn’t want such a narrow focus and switched to Henry Clay’s Liberal Arts Program.  In summary, I’m not good at making decisions, especially when they’re really important; I’m just never completely certain what’s best for me.

Looking at the vast pool of colleges, I knew that not all of them would suit me, and this early in the college decision process all I needed to worry about was narrowing it down.  Research opportunities as an undergraduate are very important to me so I decided to narrow the search to a mere 115 institutions, by deciding that I was going to go to a research 1 rated institution.  This means that they have the highest research activity out of all the colleges in America.  I also have taken a lot of interest in the fields of Engineering (not sure which type specifically) and Neuroscience and am considering a double major in those two fields, so I want a college where this can be feasibly accomplished.  I also want to attend a medium to large college, because in larger colleges there are more faculty, which means there will be more classes available, as well as more variety and specialization of classes.  This variety and specialization, I believe, improves the education experience, because it helps you learn more specifically about the things that interest you, rather than learning about general subjects.  I also want a variety of extracurricular activities to be available, because I really enjoy doing things outside of school.  I also want to be part of some sort of honors program at whatever college I go to, because I want to be able to connect with like-minded people. Some may say that honors programs separate honors students from the regular students too much, but I'm in the academy and still have many non-academy friends.  I believe honors programs help get you the advanced education others might not want, as well as connect you to people who are more like you. These are just some things I want in a college, but I still haven’t decided which college best exemplifies these things and meets my needs.