ProTeam Module 7 | Page 49

How Not to Decide on the College for You The Ten WORST Reasons to Choose a College by Eileen Livers Before you make your college decision, be sure to eliminate these tempting but terrible reasons to pick a college. 1. To be with your boyfriend/girlfriend: You’re in love. Yes, you were thinking about a school with a great Semester at Sea program, but since he/she’s going to Landlocked U., well, maybe you’ll settle for a trip to Florida over spring break. Right? Wrong. First of all, think about how dependent (read—unbearably leechlike) you will be once you realize that except for your boyfriend/girlfriend, there isn’t that much on campus that interests you. (As in you want to study marine biology, but the only sign of aquatic anything is fish-fry night at the dining hall.) Second, going to the same school might save you from a broken heart –– at least for the time being. Not going to the same school, however, will save you from gasping for air in Coupleville as you watch your classmates date others, leaving you and your high school sweetheart to resent your commitment and each other. 2. To be with your best friend: Same deal as above—dependence, suffocation, potential bitter breakup. Going to college, where you’re surrounded by hundreds of strangers (i.e., people who have no clue what your reputation was at your high school), means a chance to explore your identity and, if you want, reinvent yourself. With your best friend by your side, you’re pretty much obligated to be the same person you were in high school, not to mention the fact that having a built-in best buddy and roommate (like you weren’t planning to share a room) can prevent you from meeting all kinds of interesting people and making new friends. But if you and your sidekick go to different schools, you can visit each other, and then you’ll each have twice as many people to meet and scope out. 3. It’s less than an hour’s drive to a great vacation spot. Location is important. If you grew up in Snowstorm Central and always dreamed of a place where the temperature climbed above 10 degrees in the winter, now is your chance to spend some time in the South –– or vice versa. But don’t let the glare of the tropical sun or the school’s proximity to ski slopes blind you to its other offerings or, more importantly, the lack thereof. College will be your new home for four years, so you want to make sure it’s a place that has (almost) everything you need and want –– like interesting people, challenging courses, and cool hangouts. PROTEAM DREAMQUEST CURRICULUM   7-49