Pick a college

Disclaimer: these are my opinions of the colleges I visited and you should probably form your own because you might look at different things then I do. Also this is going to get really long, so if you're planning to read the whole thing it will take a few minutes.

Well, I visited 3 colleges in the last 2 days and let me tell you, it is tiring and I'm still not done. By then it will be five colleges in four days. First on the list was St. Thomas. I was really impressed. I felt very welcome there. The guide mentioned several times how the strive for a family atmosphere and the dorm rooms are really nice. They have a good athletic program (not that that matters to me) and a healthy rivalry with St. John. There is a real theater. The chapel is beautiful and they have daily masses. The surrounding area is nice...I don't know if I'm a big fan of the city, but the neighborhood appeared safe and there a campus security who will walk you to your car or where ever if it is dark and you want them to. It is wireless, which is nice. Well, that's all about UST.

Now on to St. Scholastica in Duluth. Blah. That basically sums it up. They differ from St. Thomas in this: when my mom and I got to St. Thomas we listened to three people talk in from of a group of about 75 people about the admissions, education, and life at UST. They were not good public speakers. The first impression of UST was not good but it got a lot better. Well, my first impression of St. Scholastica was good and it got a lot worse. The first thing you see as you drive unto campus is a beautiful grey brick building. Well, after climbing about a million stairs to get to that nice building I signed in and my mom and I met one on one with an admissions councilor who answered all of our questions very well. But then it was time for the tour. What a waste of two hours. The girl who was the guide didn't know anything. Several questions were asked and on most of them she said "Well, I'm not sure, but I would guess....." And during the slow parts of the tour, when walking from building to building, we all walked in silence. She was unenthusiastic and rather boring. Tower Hall looked nice on the outside, but on the inside it was kind of dark and dingy. We didn't even really get a good tour because whenever we got to something worth looking at the guide would say, well, the lecture hall (cafeteria, classroom, study room, science lab, computer lab, student hall, chapel, etc. ) are locked, but you can look in the window. My mom said she got the feeling that we weren't allowed to go in anywhere. The tour guide also didn't touch on any social things like dorm life or rivalries or intramural sports. And speaking of sports, have you ever heard of a college without a football team? Well, now you have. Oh! And one (okay, two) more thing(s). The theater at St. Scholastica, it used to me a gym! And also, the library used to a chapel, but they need more room for books so they moved the chapel to a smaller, less visually appealing place. And there isn't a daily mass--heck, it's only thirty percent Catholic. Sorry, that got long and winded.

I will move on to the final college of my visits: UMD. I was impressed, I must say. Granted that didn't take much because I had just come from the disappointing St. Scholastica and I don't really hold public colleges in as high regard as private ones. I would go to UMD probably before I went to St. Scholastica. UMD is really big and it is all connected so you don't have to go outside to get to different buildings. That makes the campus feel a lot safer in my opinion. The dorms aren't impressive, but they aren't that bad and our guide made dorm life sound like tons of fun. The theater is to die for. (They have catwalks!) The library is also really cool, it is four levels and if you stand in the middle of a circle that is on the floor in there your voice sounds amplified to yourself, but no one else. Academically though, I don't think I would be pushed as much at a public college as at a private college. UMD puts out only 25% of undergrads after four years. The rest graduate after five or more years. To get accepted you need a 20 ACT. At St. Thomas the average student has a 25 ACT and a 3.6 GPA and they basically guarantee you'll graduate with a B.A. in four years.

Huh, I'm tiered. I have been typing this for 31 minutes. Again, I remind you to form your own opinions of the colleges because you are the one who has to go there. Tune in next time for the my overview of St. Marys and WSU.