This post is part of series where College Ascent students reflect on their college admissions journey.
When I entered high school and started thinking about where I’d eventually go to college, I didn’t initially realize how many factors I needed to consider. Where did I want to live? Did I prefer a larger or smaller class size? What did I want to study? Was I trying to earn a scholarship of some sort? These are daunting questions that seem impossible to answer. How was I supposed to make a decision that will impact the rest of my life?
What nobody told me is that the most important first step in the college admissions process is practicing a little self-reflection and figuring out the types of environments and activities that make you the happiest and in which you thrive.
When I started thinking about my potential future major, I envisioned myself tied down to whatever I chose. I wanted to study journalism because I enjoyed writing and my dad had earned a journalism degree; I thought it’d be cool to follow in his footsteps. But would I make any money as a journalist? Did I want to write for a paper or broadcast for a local network? I wasn’t sure, and I worried about entering a degree program in which I wasn’t convinced I wanted a career.
To add to my hesitation, I occasionally heard chatter from others about my desire to pursue a liberal arts education. “There’s no money in journalism” was a common phrase. While perhaps this is true in many cases, the argument for choosing whatever others deem a “practical” degree is short-sighted in many ways. First, it’s unlikely that you’ll make a career out of whatever you study in college. I went to journalism school, and I’m not a journalist. However, the skills I learned in my program opened the door to many career opportunities I hardly knew existed when I was in high school. Most importantly, though, is that the skills I learned in college—self-advocacy, independence, failure, inter-personal navigations, etc.—I didn’t learn in my degree program. Often the most important life experiences come from simply being in a higher education setting, not from the assigned textbooks. All that to say, I would advocate for studying what you enjoy and don’t let others deter you. If you must spend four years learning something, it should be something you’re passionate about.
Once I finally tuned out the nay-sayers and settled on pursuing a journalism degree, I had to tailor my high school education to meet the expectations of the schools to which I’d be applying. I knew that, because my degree program would be extremely writing-heavy, I needed to showcase my writing skills in my application. So, I did the International Baccalaureate Program in high school because it places a strong emphasis on writing. This is something important for applicants to think about—be sure to take classes in high school that will reflect the skills of the program you want to study in college.
The next aspect of narrowing down a college list is deciding where you want to live and what kind of campus you want to experience. In my opinion, parents and counselors place too much emphasis on the quality of a school and not enough on its location. At the beginning of my process, I focused on what schools in the U.S. had great journalism programs. That added UT Austin, Trinity University in San Antonio, Georgetown, Boston University, and NYU to my list. UT Austin has an especially renowned program, and it really intrigued me. But the more I thought about my personality and what I envisioned for my future, I struggled to picture myself in Texas. I had to think hard about where I wanted to be. I knew I didn’t want to stay in Colorado. Did I want to move to California and go to the beach every day? I like snow and winter boots too much. Did I want to join a sorority at a Big 10 university? I’ve never been much of a football fan, and I was skeptical I’d thrive living in a sorority house.
I realized that my interests and personality were best suited to an urban university where I wasn’t confined to a campus and could venture out easily. I wanted to be somewhere where I could simultaneously feel like a student and a citizen of whatever city I was in. I also knew I enjoyed cold weather and wanted to be in a region of the country I’d never lived in before. This narrowed my college list to East Coast urban campuses with good journalism programs—mainly BU, NYU, George Washington, Emerson, and American University.
This may seem like a small list, but it’s a highly specific and strong combination of “reach” schools and schools I had a pretty good shot of getting into. The list also spans three cities–Boston, NYC, and Washington D.C.–and this allowed me to visit the campuses and surrounding areas and determine which one I liked best.
I ultimately ended up going to NYU, but I truly think I would’ve been happy at any of the schools on my final college list because they were the result of a lot of self-reflection on my interests and the environments in which I thrive. My advice: As you narrow your college list, make sure you’re questioning whether you’ll be happy at the schools you’re considering. That’s far more important than any other factor when choosing a path to higher education.
