What comes to mind when the words spring break are said? For me the immediate image is a bunch of crazy kids drinking and having a great time in Cancun. Sadly, I am more than a few years away from this disgustingly stereotypical vacation. I spent my spring break visiting colleges. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against what I spent my spring break doing. It's just always nice to have a contrast. Going into break I had a few goals. The first and foremost was to catch up on my sleep. The second goal was to keep and open mind to the colleges I was going to. I would say that I accomplished about .5 out of 2 of those things.
So lets start with my first visit. The first college me and my family went to was the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor was a gorgeous town and My first impression of it was absolutely great. When we got on the actual college tour my impression only got better. The Michigan campus was bustling with life and the buildings were especially beautiful. I'm not sure what exactly made me love Michigan so much; maybe it was the fact that Tom Brady went there, but whatever it was, I loved it.
The next college we went to was Northwestern. This is where my whole open mind thing got thrown a bit to the side. First of all, someone told me that Northwestern is the most depressing place ever and that it has the highest suicide rate of any college. Not exactly the best thing to hear when you are wanting to have a great visit. The weather was rainy and almost freezing which didn't help either. Northwestern was a very beautiful place but I was weirded out by how small it was. I felt like I was in high school for that entire tour and I felt claustrophobic In Evanston. Northwestern was a bit too eerily similar to Uni for me to apply.
The final place that we visited was the University of Illinois. My backyard. Basically, I knew everything they said in the presentation and I knew every place they took us on the tour. However, I did get to sit next to someone I knew during the intro presentation and make snarky comments throughout. Illinois was exactly what I expected it to be; exactly like Michigan except not as beautiful.
Overall I had a pretty good spring break. I liked 2 out of 3 of the colleges I visited and it was nice to see what other universities are like. If I were to complain about my break it would be about my sleep or should I say lack thereof. I didn't get much sleep at all because cricket matches started at around 4 a.m. central time. On nights where I didn't watch cricket I couldn't fall sleep until around 2. All I can say on this subject is that coming out of a week off of school feeling even more tired than before is not a good feeling.
I've heard Michigan had a really nice campus before and I intend on also visiting it sometime in the future. I've also heard that University of Texas at Austin has a beautiful campus as well. I'll be visiting there this summer. Anyway, nice post, I liked reading about your break.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much what I was doing last summer. Mostly the same colleges too. I still kind of wish it made sense to apply to Michigan; the campus is really nice. Academically, though, it's pretty much the same as the U of I, but more expensive, so I never applied.
ReplyDeleteI never knew Northwestern had the highest suicide rate amongst colleges. It's been one of the schools my mom is insisting that that I apply to for college, but after hearing this, I'm having second thoughts..
ReplyDeleteAnyway nice post.
Yeah when I went to visit Nortwestern it was cold and rainy too, and I agree Evanston is pretty lame. It had a nice view of the beach though.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Northwestern having an especially high suicide rate. Cornell University has gotten some media attention for their high suicide rate, which spiked even higher in 2010, as I recall reading in the news. A 2001 Boston Globe study showed that MIT and Harvard had the highest suicide rates among American colleges at that time, but that's pretty old information by now. In any case, I would investigate before you believe any rumors about suicide rates at a given school. And if you think Cornell U. is the right school for you, I wouldn't let a statistic like that put you off.
ReplyDeleteI still have to do my official visit at the U of I. I'm debating whether it would be worth it to go on the tour or not, seeing as I know the campus back and forth. If anyone knows hit me up.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, after spring break my sleep schedule has been pretty whack. I'm going to bed at 11 but I end up rolling around for a few hours before finally falling asleep. :[
I visited the Northwestern the day before you! (According to this super secret chat your mom had with my dad while they were helping for the Gala. Awkward...) Anyway! It wasn't even that cold! Northwestern is huge! And Evanston = Chicago!
ReplyDeleteBasically I disagree with your entire post, but that's okay because college is subjective! But I will leave you with my last indignant protest: Michigan will get colder or equally as cold as Northern Illinois! Just saying!
MIT has the highest suicide rate, its something like 90%
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