Summer College Visits: The Quest to Find a School

If you’re lucky enough (and brave enough) to consider a school more than 10 miles from home (You are! You can do it!), you’re going to have to visit it at least once. If you haven’t decided on a school yet, this summer is a great opportunity to explore your options. If you’ve got the time this summer, use it! Wander campuses without a guide, and see as much as you can. One way of going about this quest is to make a family vacation out of it, like I did. The younger siblings and the parents will probably drive you crazy, but have everyone climb in the minivan (so dorky, I know, I lived it), and hit the road. If you’re curious about a state or city rather than a specific school, this is a great time to visit several schools. Larger, more popular schools tend to be fairly [...]

Scholarship Stories: A Little Time Can Go a Long Way

There are scholarships for almost everything. If you’re a girl over 5’9”, a weightlifter with a stellar GPA or even just a squirrel-lover (squirrels are known to award students $10 plus three walnuts), there’s probably a scholarship out there to help get you through college. Kidding about the squirrels, but the rest is true. It’s spending the time to find, apply, interview-and actually spending that time-that’s tough. When I was headed off to school, I knew I couldn’t afford to go out of state unless I had some significant scholarship money, or else I couldn’t go without equally significant student loans. And I really, really wanted to leave the state. Hoping to avoid crushing debt, I spent many weekends looking for and applying for money. Ten years later, the Internet makes it light-years easier than I had it, but it’s still a chore, I know. Think about it, though. Giving [...]

How I Picked My Major — What Do I Want to Do When I Grow Up?

It all started with a simple question: what do I want to do when I grow up? From a young age, I really wanted a career in reading (specifically, Baby-Sitters Club books), and I wanted to go to college out of state. So I went to Arizona State University (ASU) and majored in journalism. Almost ten years later, I now do marketing for a bank in Pasadena, Calif. Huh? How did I get here? In 6th grade, we had a newspaper unit. I somehow got the editor-in-chief gig, which mainly consisted of giving up recess for a couple of days to try to edit and put the thing together. Despite the extra hours and lack of quality in the final product, I really enjoyed the experience. I realize now that’s where the first journalism seed was planted.