I'm headed into my senior year of high school at last, and now I'm looking at colleges! Yay! I'm completely dreading it! But yay!
Something that I'm very uncertain about at this point is distance from home... I really love the city I live in, and I hope to one day teach in one of the schools in this district (preferably my own old high school.). However, at the same time, I don't want to limit my options for what college I'll go to, or where I'll even spend the rest of my adult life. There are so many other places I'd love to try out living, and not even necessarily just in the city. So now I've kinda been checking out colleges in rural areas near some cousins of mine, but the hundred mile distance from my home town is still daunting.
So I'm kinda just looking for experienced advice of people who either stayed close to home for college, or left their home town area completely. Do you think you made the right decision? Would you recommend what you did to someone else? How much significance did the distance factor play for you? Was it difficult, or did you fit in with the new environment and routine easily?
And basically any other college-searching advice you have to offer would be fantastic. Thank you! :)
Lyra [and the Future]2012-08-04T10:58:46Z
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Kellyyy!!!!
I chose a college that is an hour away from my home and I sort of regret it.
In some ways, it's definitely nice. My birthday happens to fall in a SUPER busy time of the semester, so it's not possible for me to go home and see my family, but they can come and visit me for an hour or so. And it's nice to be able to come home on the weekends whenever I feel like it, except... During the semester, when you go home, you can't relax. You have a lot of work to do, so you do that, instead.
My first semester, freshman year, I went home pretty much every other weekend. I'm a shy, introverted person, so the short distance meant that it was too easy for me to fall back into a comfortable situation rather than go out and meet people. By now, I have been able to fix that and I've grown, in terms of being more outgoing. But it was a VERY slow start. I also know the area, so I wasn't going out of my comfort zone in terms of that, either. When your favorite thing is to do what makes your more comfortable rather than what will help you grow more as a person... I think choosing a school that's so close was the wrong decision for me.
I can't type a longer answer right now, so I'll end it, but pleasey please let me know if you've got any questions!! You know where to find me, and you know I love to help! :D
Edit: Just answering your last question about fitting into the new environment. Going home so often did mess with that. I also chose a college that's rather small, as far as colleges go. My class size is about 600ish maybe 700ish, but for me as a freshman, having just graduated from a high school where my class size was 95ish, my college seemed huge. After being there for two years, it's not huge, but I do like that it's a small campus. It helps with meeting people. You see people around more often, we only have one dining hall, so that makes it easier as well... choosing a smaller college is not a bad idea, in my opinion. I really do like my school, overall. I just wish that it was a little farther away (though my parents would disagree, haha, they like the distance just fine).
Also, I didn't actually choose my college based on distance. That wasn't really a factor in deciding. Of the colleges that accepted me, it was just the one that had given me the best financial aid, and it is a good school. Its distance was, at the time, just a bonus. So it's good that you are thinking more about that than I did :)
I think you should go as far away as you possibly can. It will open your mind up to different people and different cultures.
I didn't go to a college out of state, as a matter of fact, the college I went to is only two miles away from the high school I went to.
However, I am not from the United States. I came here, and that's what I meant that going as far away as possible will open your mind and you will learn about different people and different cultures. When I first came to this country, it was a new experience for me, and I am glad I left my home country to come here and see different people. Now I look at the world more intelligently than I would have had I stayed in my home country and never exposed to the outside world.
Also, my advice to you is to weigh the costs and benefits. If it will cost you a lot of money to go far, don't do it. However, if you get a great scholarship to a university out of state, then go. You sound like a smart girl, so you might get a scholarship.
Yay, you're going to college! You're growing up *sniffle* Haha, but my University is 10 minutes down the street from my home, but I rarely went (or even now, go) home. Like, I can count the times I went home the entire fall and spring semester last year on one hand. I didn't even stay in my dorm as much as I should have, haha. I spent the night at my best guy friend's house (cause I'm in love with his brother, hehe) and we stayed up, smoked some illegal stuff, got late-night meals at Taco Bell and a 24-hour breakfast diner, and then head to class and do it all over again. I honestly didn't mind going to college so close to my house cause I never went home anyway! That annoyed my mom, but whatever. My group of friends were like a close circle. The girlfriend of my best guy friend was also my best friend, so I really enjoyed being over and it was something I never got to do. I loved the freedom I have. I can go where I want when I want an no one can say anything about it.
My older sister, however, went to a Uni in Nashville, Tennessee. She came home every once in a while to hang out with her friends that were here and go clubbing. I don't think I would like going to an out of town Uni, to be honest. I can make new friends here while having the secure bond of my old friends and hang and party and just be young!
While I wouldn't mind going to an out of town Uni, I think the newness of it would grow old quickly for me, and I'll be like "Meh."
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