College 100 assignment

1) To gain a broad perspective relative to the different types of colleges, campuses, and programs, provide the name and a brief description of the following: (Do not hesitate to explore colleges outside the Northwest states, do not use the same college twice, and do not simply list information available on their website.)


A public college: Michigan State University
Michigan State is a very large college both student wise and size wise. In 2007(fall) there was a total of 46,045 students and the size of the school is 5,200 acres, that is one of the biggest schools in the nation. The program I am interested in is Psychology and Michigan has a great psychology program. There are many different colleges within Michigan State

A private college: Hawaii Pacific University
Hawaii Pacific is a pretty small school with around 8,200 students but the class sizes are still small. Their psychology program is also thought of very highly, which grabs my attention pretty quick. Hawaii Pacific seems like a very good school for someone who knows exactly what they want to do because of how they have their university school set up with all their majors and the number of students.

A rural college: Western Washington University
Western is a medium size university located in Bellingham which is pretty rural yet close enough to big cities such as Seattle. They are a DII school with many clubs that I would be interested in. Personally, it will not matter to me whether or not the university I want to attend is rural or urban. So I will consider Western just the same as I will consider Hawaii Pacific or Michigan State.

A traditional large university: University of Washington
The University of Washington is a very large university that is known by many people across the nation. There are over 550 student clubs at the UW, this school has been around since 1861 which makes it a very traditional and large university. The UW is not overwhelmingly expensive and since it is a traditional large university that has been around awhile, there are many options for students to get to where they need to be.

A small alternative college:Stony Brook
Stony Brook is in New York and is the closest thing to a small alternative college that I was interested in while at the college fair. This is because most of the colleges I am interested in are large schools so Stony Brook is a lot different that my other choices. What makes Stony Brook unique is how much the school values "going green" and trying to save the world from global warming etc.

2) Select a college major that you might be interested in pursuing. (Architecture/ Structural Engineering) Find three colleges that are known to offer quality programs in that major. You may choose only one of the three colleges from within the state of Washington. Briefly describe what impressed you about each of these colleges. Then finally, describe how your overall educational experience might differ if you were to choose one college over the others. In making your comparisons, be sure to consider some the issues raised in the “suggested questions” above. (You probably should do some research on this before attending the Fair)

College Major(s): Psychology.

University of Washington: The University of Washington has a really highly respected psychology program. I can also get into the University of Washington without too much difficulty because I am Native American and there are many benefits to being a political minority. what I like about the UW is that the campus is very large and there are many opportunities for me at the University of Washington. The thing that might make me decide to come to UW over other schools is that I will receive good benefits and it seems like a school that can accommodate my needs.

University of Oregon: The University of Oregon is another great university that I am interested in. I really like their campus and their programs that they have available to the students as well as extra programs for the students of Native American heritage. The only thing that may keep me away from this university is that it will be really expensive and I am not 100% sure that they would accept my PSEC credits. I will not go to a university that does not accept dual credits as that would not benefit me in anyway. But if I can get this university to work out for me, I would love to go there. The only stipulations would be that I need to find an efficient way to pay the tuition without going broke.

Fordham: Fordham has a very highly regarded psychology program. This university is in New York so that would be a great place to study. The school itself is huge and there are many clubs and activities open to the students. This would be great for me as if I go here, I will obviously not be near home so I will have to have some things to do in order to be happy there. I really like their rigorous schedule and courses, I believe this university could make me a very successful person. One thing I do have to double check, is whether or not they will accept my dual credits that I will earn here at PSEC.


3) Attend at least one of the workshops during your time at the Fair. Briefly describe the content of the workshop and evaluate the information received.

The only workshop I was in at the college fair was one about admissions, the lady talked about how important it was to show schools that you are applying for your character and personality. This is because now more and more schools are looking at the qualities of the individual and not basing everything off SAT or ACT scores. To be honest, I was really bored during this workshop. The speaker was kind of monotone and it was enough to put me to sleep. I had already heard the information before and I think that the workshop would have been better had it been a little more lively. I am not saying that the workshops were not useful at all, but there is definitely room for improvement.



4) Write a personal evaluation of your experience of attending the National College Fair. Share whatever thoughts you have, but be sure to include a discussion of the following:

Personally I really enjoyed the college fair. There were many people there that I recognized but I did not use it as a chat session, I actually talked to over 20 colleges. It is kind of difficult for me to decide what college I would like to go to because I really will not know this for sure until my senior year. This is because I play softball and plan to play in college. Most players do not get recruited until their senior year, so I am sure that no matter what I will probably base my decisions on which college I would like to go to by what colleges recruit me. I do not come from a wealthy family at all and any extra help I can get by trying to earn scholarships through softball is exactly what I'm going to try to do.