Picking Your Dream College

Almost a year ago I took a little road trip with my best friend Amanda to South Carolina. At the time, we both had our hearts set on attending the University of South Carolina. We visited USC but it turned out NOT to be our dream college. We liked it but we didn't love it. Ya feel?

Lesson learned: Don't pick a school based off it's website - visit first! As amazing as some college websites are, it's more important to get a feel of the city the college is located in and the campus of course! We saved a lot of time and money on college apps by visiting the college to make sure it was a school we were really interested in. 

After visiting the 2 colleges we were adamant about we felt kind of let down until Amanda's sister suggested we check out the College of Charleston! The minute Amanda stepped on campus she fell in love with it. It has such a beautiful campus! And it's right smack in the middle of Charleston which was where Amanda wanted to live and work when she graduated so it turned out to be the perfect fit!

Amanda's school: College of Charleston

A similar thing happened to me. After returning from our little vacay, I was still completely unsure of what college I wanted to go to. My friend Kaila suggested I check out the University of Tampa but when she told me about it I shrugged the idea off because I thought she was talking about USF - a school I wasn't considering at the time. I didn't realize that UT and USF were totally different schools! I am thrilled to say that now I am a UT Spartan! Hooray!

My school: University of Tampa

Lesson Learned: Explore your options. If you are a little bit of a homebody like me, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and look at schools that aren't in your area. Listen to family and friend's recommendations because (at least in mine and Amanda's case) they knew just what we wanted whereas we were just going with the flow and looking at the popular colleges everyone knew about. Sometimes it's the little colleges that make the biggest impressions!

Wishing all my younger readers luck as they start taking their SAT's & ACT's, filling out college apps and most importantly, picking their dream school!

Xo Steph