Can somebody tell me...

Consolation
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:29:56 +0000

Along with the advice about reading, reading, and reading some more, I’d highlight two things:

Olymom alluded to location. I had a friend in college who came from a nearby town that was urban, gritty, and poor-to-blue collar. When it appeared in the local news it was for crimes, fires, and other negative reasons. Our school had a lot of very sophisticated, well-travelled, well-to-do students. She felt the contrast keenly–other people didn’t think about it, but SHE did. She was much happier when she spent time as an exchange student at a more distant school, where she never heard local news broadcasts about her hometown and most people had never heard of it. So it can be a good idea to go somewhere out of your immediate region, even if the danger is only that you will feel branded as a hayseed. I have no idea where you come from, but to use an easy example, a rural town in Montana will probably seem exotic and idyllic to students in many parts of the country–outside of Montana and the Dakotas.

Secondly, if it is at all possible, it is a great idea to try to take advantage of summer enrichment programs like EPGY, TIP, or CTY, or to do a summer exchange program in another country. THere are vast numbers of interesting summer programs that can broaden your horizons. If you have good language skills, don’t overlook foreign exchange.