Opinion Post...Pre College

Why did we all go to college? This time of year seems like as good a time as any to wax poetic on the days of college (undergrad, not you uber nerds like mccoy, scratch that im going back to school come winter). For most of us there was no particular choice in whether or not we were going to college. My parents had been drilling that one in my head for the previous 18 years. So even if I thought about not going to school, there wasn't much choice in the matter. The main choice was where and to do what.

Well how do you make that decision, you are 17 or 18 years old. The hardest decision I made at that age was whether or not to put 18 inch rims on my 94 VW jetta (I didn't, too expensive). Now all of a sudden you are faced with a decision that will determine at least the next 4 years of your life at least. You aren't adequately prepared to make such a choice, but you do it anyway with any nonsensical criteria you come up with. Mine was simple: 1. Near a city (I grew up 30 minutes outside of New York City, and hate it or love it, that's what I relate to the most) 2. Big time Division I sports programs that werent god awful in either of the major sports, Men's Basketball and Football. 3. Diversity (this was a stupid idea in hindsight). Those were it. Notice how "academics" wasn't thrown in there. You can see what kind of student I was.

Schools applied to: UConn, Temple, Rutgers, Ramapo (ask and I'll explain), UNC Chapel Hill (shot in the dark), U of Georgia, UMD

Schools accepted to: UConn, Temple, Rutgers, Ramapo (Full Ride), U of Georgia (rolling admin), UMD

Well, it was easy to erase Rutgers, I grew up next to the school, like literally right next to it (made it very difficult to buy alcohol underage), Ramapo was never really an option. My mom eliminated Georgia "It's so far away, how will you come home". That leaves UConn, Temple, and UMD. I visited all three schools, here are some excerpts

UConn:
Kyle's Dad: This place looks alright, kind of far from things though
Kyle's Mom: What a nice looking school, it looks like what college looks like on TV.
Kyle: Are you kidding, this is the middle of nowhere, this is the seventh level of hell
Kyle: I'm not going here unless its the last option.
Kyle's Dad: The food in the cafeteria isn't very good.

Temple:
Kyle's Mom: This is right in the city, I don't know if I like this.
Kyle: This is great, the bars are right there, right across the street from the school.
Kyle's Mom: This is too dangerous, I don't want you going here

UMD:
Kyle's Mom: What a picturesque school, I think you will like this one
Kyle's Dad: Their sports teams aren't terrible, they had that Steve Francis Guy.
Kyle's Dad: the dining hall is so much better here.
Kyle: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH Shit, better looking girls, way better looking than high school. Their teams don't suck, DC is 10 minutes away, Baltimore is 30 minutes away. I think this is it.

And it was that simple, as to whether it was the right choice, or things went well when I got here. That's another story. But thats how I ended up here, not that you care or anything. More later today.