<p>I applied to 10 colleges and got into 7 of them. Of those seven my top choices are the following:</p>
<p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Guilford College
College of Wooster
Earlham College</p>
<p>I’ve done an endless amount of research on colleges. I’ve visited them all when school was in session (the exception to this is Earlham which I plan on visiting very soon), have read about them in several different guidebooks, and regularly read the online editions of their school newspapers. However, I have yet to come to a decision.</p>
<p>A little about me:</p>
<p>Though I live in Maryland I currently go to a very progressive nonconformist boarding school in New England. This has been somewhat of a mixed bag for me as I received a very high caliber education, and enjoyed living in a dorm and interacting with people who are diverse in every sense of the word, yet did not get the close knit community experience I was looking for due to the high number of day students and the large number of boarders who go home on the weekend. I’m also a very shy individual and I don’t have a ton of self-confidence. I’m also very into politics and hope to become actively involved as a college student. </p>
<p>Thoughts on the colleges:</p>
<p>St. Mary’s: Very beautiful campus, tuition is very affordable, and I certainly enjoyed the feel of the school when I visited. However, St. Mary’s contains students that are mostly from Maryland and doesn’t have a huge amount of international students. I’m also learning disabled (NLD) and they don’t have a learning center though the provost or assistant provost looked over my diagnosis report and mentioned specific accomodations that would be made for me should I attend St. Mary’s.</p>
<p>Guilford College: I like that its a Quaker College, is located in fairly warm North Carolina, and seems to have a little more political diversity than Earlham,which is also a Quaker College. What I don’t like about Guilford is that the school is expanding (currently there are 1,250 traditional students and by 2009 (the year I graduate) enrollment will be at 1,500) I also feel like the school is going through a period of transition as welll.</p>
<p>College of Wooster: I’ve been leaning towards this school for a while but now I’m not so sure. I like that it seems to have many different types of students and seems to politically be the most diverse of all the schools I’ve mentioned here. I also like the fact that the everyone writes an 80-100 page paper during their senior year. I am a little concerned over the fact that at 1800 students, Wooster has several hundred more students than the other colleges I’m seriously considering, though my college counselor says that won’t notice the difference. I’m also wondering if I will grow more as an individual and perhaps fit in better if I attend a a Quaker college like Guilford or Earlham.</p>
<p>Earlham: After St. Mary’s Earlham is my cheapest option. I also like that Earlham seems to have more of a Quaker influence then Guilford and perhaps a better idea of where it’s going. It also seems like it may provide with a very intense college experience both academically and personally. Several of my teachers have recommended Earlham as a good place for me. I’m also a little concerned that Earlham may have the least political diversity of all the schools I’m looking and I’m afraid I might get bored and perhaps annoyed at going to a school where everyone is politically hard left,therefore thinking a lot like I do. This is the case at my current school.</p>
<p>Though it is not my most important concern here is a list of each of my schools from cheapest to most expensive</p>
<p>St. Mary’s
Earlham
Guilford
Wooster</p>
<p>I know this post has been rediculously long but I’m really stressed out over choosing a college and I was wondering if some of the people on this board could help me out.
Thanks</p>