(no subject)
Okie dokie smokies. I know I havent posted in a long time, but I've been so busy visiting colleges. This is REALLY hard for me right now because I am HORRIFIED I am going to make the wrong decision. I know that sounds funny, being scared of making a mistake, but if I do make a mistake, it could be a huge problem for me. If I'm miserable for 4 years or I can't transfer to the school I want to go, I don't know.... That's just really scary.
Right now it's between Harvey Mudd and Caltech, and I'm absolutely torn, to the point where I'm going crazy and getting cranky snapping at anybody who talks about college to me.
I think maybe I should make a list of pros and cons, but I don't know, I'm worried still. Ok here goes:
HARVEY MUDD
Pros
-Really friendly students/campus
-No graduate students to steal research
-Profs really enjoy teaching undergrads
-Opportunity to take classes at other claremont schools
-Small town location
-Offer Biochemistry as a major
-More traditional college life with a traditional 21 meal/week mealplan and traditional dorms
-Offer mostly suite-style living (as opposed to floor baths - tho I'm starting to think I might like floor baths more because the larger number of showers and such means that there is less competition for shower times)
-$10,000/yr merit scholarship
-Can take classes such as lighting design or the shakespear class (really cool) to count for the humanities requirements
Cons
-Fewer majors to choose from
-Only give a general engineering degree
-Biochemistry is a very new major, and thus there have been no new graduates to guage the success of the major
-A lot of parties seem to involve alcohol
-Freshman PE requirement
-CS requirement
-Some activities, like theatre, are with all 5 colleges combined, and since at least one offers a theatre major, I'd be competing with those people for positions
-8 or 9:1 student-professor ratio
CALTECH
Pros
-House system seems like a lot of fun, and moreover fosters a REALLY good sense of community (students help each other out with homework and stuff)
-Faculty includes 30 members who have won nobel prizes, which means that they are highly intelligent in the fields, and also, when it comes to recomendations, they carry a lot more power.
-Fun pranks
-Bigger campus with not too many more undergrads = more facillities (undergrads have full access via master key)
-Offer a wide variety of majors, including speciallized engineering degrees
-Better choices for PE requirement - including rock climbing
-Really smart students
-Smaller upper level classes due to greater separation from more majors to choose from (and more classes to choose from)
-3:1 student-professor ratio
Cons
-10 meal/week mealplan means students are left on their own for weekends
-Not guaranteed "On campus housing," though off campus is guaranteed and is only across the street
-Renovation of south houses (and maybe north later) means having to live in, what is basically trailers, for a year
-Professors are there for research, not teaching, so it's hit or miss with profs, especially in the upper level courses (though for core classes, profs are chosen for teaching ability)
-Pasadena is a little too urban
-No biochemistry major
-Crappy admissions people, though once enrolled, I wouldn't be likely to encounter them much
-Really smart students means I might find myself struggling to keep up
-Core curriculum is really physics/math heavy
That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll come up with tons more (and I'll update them in blue), but for now, any comments you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. Yeah.
Right now it's between Harvey Mudd and Caltech, and I'm absolutely torn, to the point where I'm going crazy and getting cranky snapping at anybody who talks about college to me.
I think maybe I should make a list of pros and cons, but I don't know, I'm worried still. Ok here goes:
HARVEY MUDD
Pros
-Really friendly students/campus
-No graduate students to steal research
-Profs really enjoy teaching undergrads
-Opportunity to take classes at other claremont schools
-Small town location
-Offer Biochemistry as a major
-More traditional college life with a traditional 21 meal/week mealplan and traditional dorms
-Offer mostly suite-style living (as opposed to floor baths - tho I'm starting to think I might like floor baths more because the larger number of showers and such means that there is less competition for shower times)
-$10,000/yr merit scholarship
-Can take classes such as lighting design or the shakespear class (really cool) to count for the humanities requirements
Cons
-Fewer majors to choose from
-Only give a general engineering degree
-Biochemistry is a very new major, and thus there have been no new graduates to guage the success of the major
-A lot of parties seem to involve alcohol
-Freshman PE requirement
-CS requirement
-Some activities, like theatre, are with all 5 colleges combined, and since at least one offers a theatre major, I'd be competing with those people for positions
-8 or 9:1 student-professor ratio
CALTECH
Pros
-House system seems like a lot of fun, and moreover fosters a REALLY good sense of community (students help each other out with homework and stuff)
-Faculty includes 30 members who have won nobel prizes, which means that they are highly intelligent in the fields, and also, when it comes to recomendations, they carry a lot more power.
-Fun pranks
-Bigger campus with not too many more undergrads = more facillities (undergrads have full access via master key)
-Offer a wide variety of majors, including speciallized engineering degrees
-Better choices for PE requirement - including rock climbing
-Really smart students
-Smaller upper level classes due to greater separation from more majors to choose from (and more classes to choose from)
-3:1 student-professor ratio
Cons
-10 meal/week mealplan means students are left on their own for weekends
-Not guaranteed "On campus housing," though off campus is guaranteed and is only across the street
-Renovation of south houses (and maybe north later) means having to live in, what is basically trailers, for a year
-Professors are there for research, not teaching, so it's hit or miss with profs, especially in the upper level courses (though for core classes, profs are chosen for teaching ability)
-Pasadena is a little too urban
-No biochemistry major
-Crappy admissions people, though once enrolled, I wouldn't be likely to encounter them much
-Really smart students means I might find myself struggling to keep up
-Core curriculum is really physics/math heavy
That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll come up with tons more (and I'll update them in blue), but for now, any comments you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. Yeah.