Media Room

College Hunt

I enjoy doing college tours.

Columbia University was my last tour and I had a good time… esp getting to learn about the schools pastime. I am def considering this school as a pick to complete my bachelors, but that’s only one egg in the basket and a very expensive one.

My recent visit gave me the usual feel that this might be the right school. But that’s what college tours are for, they are meant to persuade you into thinking that there can never be a better choice. This may be statistically true about Ivy Leagues, but there is so much more in choosing schools, building a career, getting to know where you might fit in and getting the most from your college experience.

Even before getting accepted so much endangers that treasured experience of being educated in what may seem like a great school. Tuition is ridiculous. The bureaucracy that meets you in the process of transferring from one school to the next is tedious.

And even though at the end of the day, you just want to be able to have a great experience and be able to apply that to a better life, getting into a good school can be a job in itself. Regardless, these college tours have taught me how important it is to dream. The image in my head of attending a four year college, drives me to keep working hard. And even if it’s not Columbia, it’s good to know that the dream of having a bachelor’s degree is not unattainable. It’s possible.

What I want to get out of my college education is what I have always dreamt of… to be in an environment that is based on progress and that is continually creating change. Colleges seem to instill in its students the idea that you can go very far… you can change the world… and you can achieve so much out of being creative and innovative. That’s the promise I like about the schools that I have visited, they are interested in knowing that they are providing the right resources to their students and those students will invent the next big thing. The kind of experience and lifestyle that is based on this principle is what makes certain schools unique. Hampshire College was one of those schools that I admired so much. The small school in Amherst, Massachusetts tries relentlessly to make dreamers become inventors. I enjoyed the spirit at the school, where everyone seemed so fixed to a particular mission… one so ambitious the school makes rooms for all ideas, no matter how far reaching. And I could see that at Columbia as well in certain aspects.

But these experiences aren’t cheap. It’s a step backwards when you think about how expensive college can be. Two years of College is enough to make you bankrupt. But sometimes it’s worth it to just forget the cost and focus on the plan. It’s good to be realistic, while at the same time, as Steve Jobs once said, “Have the COURAGE to follow your heart and intuition.” College – the experience, the promise, the hopes – is worth the cost if it’s really what you want.

Only a few years ago, I would surf the internet looking at college campuses such as Columbia. One day that fantasy became reality. The dome shaped building stands right before my bare eyes and the earth beneath, I finally know what it’s feels like.

But only if getting in was as attainable as just standing there. That’s something to work on.