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Thanks to everyone who replied to my last post, it was really helpful. Now I'm 90% sure that I'm going to go to St. Mary's unless I hear back from a school that waitlisted me. It's kind of weird how St. Mary's started as a safety school for me, but now I like it quite a bit. But I still feel kind of awkward since it seems like NO ONE outside of
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You will be entering a WHOLE NEW WORLD. It's very cliche, but very very true. No matter what school you go to (assuming you move to the school/not live with your parents anymore). You will have an entirely new band of friends, an entirely new social group inside of a week of unpacking your bags.
My wife went to New College, and transferred to St. Mary's. She loved New College, but it takes a VERRRRY special breed to
A) even get into New College to begin with. They are VERY selective.
B) fit into the TRULY bizarre scene down there. There are a bunch of regulars, and then there's a truly unique culture down there, unlike any other, I promise you that. Leaving home to go to any college is a shock. New College might be like another planet.
C) As an education: MOST students don't last 2 years at New College for a variety of reasons. The direction your education takes there is VERY unstructured. On the one hand you invent a lot of your own classes. On the other hand you may find that NC may be lacking in a lot of subject areas.
There is nothing wrong with going to NC and then transferring to SMC. I would make a hunch and say that if you are a generally insecure person (nothing wrong with that), NC may not be for you. If you are generally a goody twoshoes , straight laced sort (again, nothing wrong with that) , NC may not be for you .... (OTOH if you are a goody twoshoes sort....that could very well change inside of a week at any school)
I wouldn't count on NC giving you toooo much in the Art dept., but be if you can survive their philosophy dept, you are an extremely talented individual. (it's not scary, but it is challenging)
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So that's New College, which you may or may not have discovered in any New College Comms, if there are any.
As for SMC......I loved it....but it's very difficult to describe WHY.
Academically, it's fine for English. Don't count on Art being so great. Philosophy is somewhere inbetween.
Socially? That's the best part of SMC (I'm not trying to sell the educational experience of SMC short. As an educational institution in most areas it is great, and you may find you excel at a great many other things and change majors by Sophomore year. Many people do.)
SMC is so far away from ANYTHING, you will bond with your friends in ways that simply defy description. I wish I could explain it. I really do. You will come out of SMC with many friends for life.
No matter what path you choose, choose it with no regret. Freshman year is an amazingly special time. Enjoy it, explore yourself socially, intellectually, philosophically. If things don't work out at whatever institution you pick, there is no law against transferring. Whatever school you pick, let the other be your safety school.
Okay....that was really long and I put way more effort into it without answering your question than I thought possible. But hopefully you'll still find some wisdom here.
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