From
"College Times 2000/2001"
College Board Publications
At
San Marcos (Texas) High School, juniors interview seniors about their
college and scholarship search. These seniors made some smart decisions
about college. So listen up!
College Times: How did you pick a
college?
Ruth
Mullins: I'm interested in marine biology. I started looking
for the strongest marine biology programs, pinpointed three schools,
and now I'm between Florida State and Texas A&M- I'm not sure
if I want to stay at home or if I want to pay out-of-state tuition
at first.
Matt
Beebe: I knew I wanted to do music. I've been here since
I was 6 or 7. I wanted to go somewhere small- I knew right off the
bat, too- because instead of being taught by teaching assistants,
I wanted personal attention straight from the professor, so I looked
around and found a private school, Southwestern- it's a little smaller
than the high school here. I've already made contact with the guitar
professor. Everyone has been so nice to me, and I'll have an opportunity
to perform there and meet artists, classical guitarists, which I love.
Arman
Salami (wants to attend Purdue, but first...) You search
for the college that has what you want and you search for the best-
the best, that is, for your money. May major will be in aerospace
engineering and UT [the University of Texas] was one of the most highly
regarded schools for that. I'll go there two and a half years, take
care of basic courses, then transfer to Purdue to minimize costs,
because out-of-state expenses (which I'll have to pay at Purdue) are
much more than in-state. It's a means to reduce debt.
JD
Perez: I looked at two main colleges, UT and Southwest
Texas State (SWT). I took the UT tour and everything, and in classes,
there were like 500 people in a class, and I thought to myself, 'Am
I going to do better in an environment that has a lot of people or
an environment with fewer, like at SWT [right in San Marcos]. Also,
I wanted to stay close to home; I don't want to move away- even though
sometimes I want to move away...
Natalie
Pounds: I chose UT. It does have a lot of people- over
50,000- but I feel that if you're willing to take the extra time,
and at least get to know your teacher's assistants if you're not able
to get to know your professors, and you'll spend as much time as possible
doing your studies, you will be able to be in a class of 500 and still
make it. I think it depends on you and how much effort you're willing
to put in. I feel, I can sit in the front row and do what it takes
to get noticed, and that I will be able to make good grades regardless
of the class size.
Lauren
Rogers, A Junior: How did you narrow down your choice?
Janellica
Lucio: I was set on computer science- it's such a big field,
and the opportunities are great. The funny thing is, I went to a career
day at my college and went to the workshop and I liked it, but it
wasn't everything that I want. They also had a workshop on communications
and advertising. I went up to that and found I wanted to major in
communications. I went up there one weekend and I was like, hey, I
changed my major already!
Sandra
Rios-Fraticelli: Definitely if you have opportunities to
go to summer programs that might help define your interests, go to
them. You're giving up part of your summer, but you learn a lot that
you don't think you will learn. Last summer, I attended a business
leadership program at UT designed to introduce minorities to college
business programs and give them skills they need. I decided from that
program that I was interested in business, so I applied to UT as my
safety school and to my dream college, the U. of Pennsylvania. I just
heard I got in.
Alison
Valdes, A Junior: I was thinking about college out of state,
but it would be scary, and I'm not sure I want to do that to my family.
How did you make the decision?
Sandra
Rios-Fraticelli: U. Penn. invited me for a three-day weekend.
Going there made me decide I was OK with the choice to live halfway
across the country. There was so much hustle and bustle on campus
that I didn't have a chance to be alone and to think about it. Also,
I always knew I wanted to live the East Coast, and it's an hour and
a half by train from Washington DC and from New York City, I'll have
plenty to do on the weekends to keep myself busy. And there's e-mail
and instant messaging, you can do a long distance telephone call-
it's nothing really. I think I'll be all right.
Val
Rios, A Junior: How do you get to know what the college campuses
are like?
JD
Perez: Do a lot of college visits. During one of the [high
school] staff development days, a lot of us went over to SWT to just
look around and stuff.
Arman
Salami: Nothing's the same as actually visiting the campus
and getting a feel for it.
Janellica
Lucio: When I had a college visit at SMU [Southern Methodist
University], I really loved the campus. The people were friendly,
really open, and that's what made me decide to go there.... I also
want to say, with scholarships, start early. Start very early.
Marcy
Carillo , A Junior: Besides the guidance office, where did
you find scholarship opportunities?
Janellica
Lucio: The Internet
is a resource. You go into certain sites and type your name, put in
what kind of interests you have, and they give you messages...lists
of scholarships. You can find tons of them.
Ruth
Mullins: Books that list scholarships are at the public
library. Just go one afternoon, look through them, get in contact
with places. They might use a keyword process, where you go look up
your interests- say ROTC, band, cooking, cheerleading. You find these
scholarships you've never heard of that are open. All you do is write
for the applications, fill them out, and apply.
JD
Perez: Apply for
as many as you can. I know you all think, 'Well, I'm not top 10%',
like I'm number 62 out of 411 in my class. But I thought, I'll apply
to all of them and even if I get one I'll be happy. I applied to as
many as I could; I got three of four.
Natalie
Pounds: You don't
want to worry about your acceptances and scholarships at the same
time; you want time to do scholarship searches. So, start now as juniors,
start this summer, filling out the college applications, so that once
you get accepted you have extra time to worry about your scholarships.
The effort you put into it is how much you get out of it.
Sandra
Rios-Fraticelli:
U. Penn. is expensive- $36,000 a year, which is a big number for anybody-
but don't let the cost of a college keep you from applying. Usually
you can get some financial aid and, if you can't, usually the college,
if they want you, will give you grant and endowment money- that's
what I'm looking at now
Don't
give up on a college because it's far away, or you might not get in.
Apply, get accepted, and decide later where you want to go. Don't
not apply just because it might be expensive. Don't give up your dreams
for something trivial.
Matt
Beebe: Basically, If I were going to give advice- do what
you love; don't do something you think might be boring. Think of what
you love in life and go for it.
About
the SAT:
JD
Perez: The better
prepared you are, the higher your score is going to be. I suggest
looking at the Internet. There are great books you can get, too
Natalie
Pounds: I took
it once and my score was really low. My high school grades are pretty
good, but I'm not great at standardized tests. Don't let a low score
stop you from applying- I got into UT business.
[Natalie
is right. Colleges do tend to care more about your work over four
years of high school than about your score on a three hour test. A
can-do attitude like Natalie's doesn't hurt, either!]
Sandra
Rios-Fraticelli:
I took it three times, and I took the PSAT [the PSAT/NMSQT] my sophomore
and junior years.
[Taking
the SAT once is fine, but on a second try, scores often rise. And,
of course, the PSAT is great practice.]
Matt
Beebe: Before I took the SAT the third time, I took a
six-week course to get my score up, which...didn't work.
[Oops!
Is a test course right for you?]
