I'm torn--please help.

College Search & Lists
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<p>For about a year, Swarthmore has been my first choice. I just felt like a true Swattie. But now I’m unsure about what I want.</p>

<p>Right now I’m trying to decide between Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Duke and UGA (thank goodness I at least took one more school off my list–Amherst). But I only have a week left, and I’m an indecisive person anyway, so this is pretty bad for me.</p>

<p>I guess, first some info.</p>

<p>I want to double major in biology and psychology, but I want to focus more on psychology (but w/ biology tied in). If I decide those really aren’t for me, I’m also quite interested in linguistics and sociology.</p>

<p>I’m not sure I want in location, because I don’t necessarily need to be in a hopping city or anything, but I do need a few things around.</p>

<p>And is it <em>really</em> true that the Swarthmore workload is ridiculous? I don’t mind work, but college shouldn’t be JUST about working… naturally, I want to have fun to, and even though I know Swatties socialize, I feel like the work will be an ever-present guilty factor.</p>

<p>And even though I recently had a HUGE additional circumstance in finaid (basically, my income will most definitely be half what it was this year, and trust me, it’s not that big to begin with), and I informed the Swarthmore office, but I got a letter today that said that my original package is the same. So… I mean obviously they don’t NEED to give me money. But of course, finaid is a huge factor. And Bowdoin’s going to be practically free. And Duke, it’s comparable with Swat, although it does have a few loans… but I don’t NEED to accept them obviously if I wish not to and just add it to my EFC. But Duke is re-evaluating my package right now. In any case, I feel guilty though because Swat’s package is not bad–I’m a Swarthmore Scholar, so I don’t have any loans… but Swat’s EFC is twice everyone else’s. And of course, UGA would be free.</p>

<p>But I’m thinking about location a lot. I live in Georgia, and I could just go to UGA, but let’s ignore that for now (UGA is this whole other thing). So the next closest is Duke. And like, I’m independent. I can do with being away from my family. But thing is, I’m very close to them. Again, I can do without them just fine, but do I want to? Yeah I know you can’t answer that question, but it’s like this. If I go to Swat, I can only see them like during Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break perhaps. And maybe not even that. My family does not have enough money to keep on buying me plane tickets. I guess there are bus tickets, but I’m sure those fees are a little up. In any case, I can’t bring a car to Swat. Thing is, I can to Duke. And freshmen can have cars. And the drive to Swat is more than twelve hours; the drive to Duke is about seven. And I know, yeah, a lot of people are close to their families, and they can talk on the phone with them, but it’s not like that with me. Because my parents speak Korean, very little English, and I speak English, very little Korean. We are close, but we cannot talk. It’s more of an emotional connection. So we can’t exactly talk on the phone. I know that sounds weird, but it’s entirely true. And it’s like, they’ve given me independence for so long, and they trust me, and I trust them, and so I definitely don’t feel a need to get away from them. I’m fine with staying close. And I’m tempted to because they always need help because they don’t speak English a lot. But thing is, I don’t really NEED to stay–I have a sister who goes to UGA. But that’s another thing. She’s my best friend, and it’d be hard to go away, even though I can talk with her on the phone. And I love Swat, but I wouldn’t ever get to see my family, really, not the way I want to.</p>

<p>And Duke–I had reservations because I heard it was snotty, but the more I read about it, the more I realized it wasn’t. And sometimes, I guess, it’s nice to be a number. And I love social activism, and I love Swat, but you know, there are the times when you just want to like goof off. And I’m not saying Swatties can’t goof off, but like, there’s the rest of my life, and so shouldn’t I just have plain old fun at Duke?</p>

<p>And Bowdoin–it’s still there. Great dorms. Great food. Brunswick’s great. Portland’s great. People are great. The outdoors are great. The work is challenging, but not all ever present time consuming. Most of all, again, the finaid is great. But the distance thing applies to Bowdoin too.</p>

<p>But still… Duke and Swat are great schools too. Like, I don’t mind size. I feel I can find a fit in whatever. And I used to think I minded Greek life, but I read about Duke’s, and it’s not so bad.</p>

<p>This is just the short of it, but I know this is already a long post, and I know people don’t like long posts, but I just needed to explain my situation.</p>

<p>If you have any pieces of advice or thoughts, it’d be greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>I believe that LACs give students with multiple academic interests better academic experiences outside their majors, plus introductory class experiences that better facilitate the choice of a major. So I would cross off UGA.</p>

<p>As someone said on another board. . .if you are truly undecided follow the money; in this case to Bowdoin.</p>

<p>Forget about the car thing. . .all that means is your friends will be bugging you for rides or the keys.</p>

3

<p>I don’t have any advice. </p>

<p>Sounds like you’ve kind of got yourself wrapped up in knots. Those are four very, very different schools to be still considering all of them at this point. Especially when you started out with a clear front-runner. Maybe overthinking things a bit much? Anxiety now that you have to actually send a deposit?</p>

<p>I have no idea which school would be the right choice for you. I’d sit down with a piece of paper and start listing the priorities you are looking for in a school (travel time, finances, and whatever else you feel is super-important). Finish your list and then see if any of the schools match.</p>

<p>I will say this. If you felt like a perfect match for a school for a year, there was probably a reason you felt that way. And, logically, there would have to be “something” specific that would cause you to change your mind. That happens. But, I’m having trouble untangling what that may be. </p>

<hr>

<p>I will answer a couple of questions about Swarthmore. My D recently flew down to visit a friend at Ga Tech in Atlanta for a long weekend. $178 round trip, I think on AirTran. Phila/Atl is a pretty easy route to get cheapo fares and it’s less than a two-hour flight – not much longer than it would take to drive from Athens to Atlanta. Durham would also be easy – although I don’t think there’s train from your dorm to the airport terminal. Bowdoin is the only one of your four options that would be an absolute pain in the butt from a travel standpoint. It’s a solid 2+ hour bus ride to Logan Airport in Boston. Or, you could do the Portland to Boston on a prop-plane, but that doesn’t save much time. As for the cost, if you go to a school where you don’t need a car, you’ll save enough in car insurance alone to cover your plane fair back and forth several times a year. Cars are a lot more expensive than a few $180 round trip plane tickets. Probably cost ya $50 in gas to drive back and forth even to Duke.</p>

<p>Of course, Swatties do stuff other than study. Sheesh, they’re college kids. College kids goof off. A lot. That’s what’s great about college. There are kids at Swarthmore who work harder than some of the kids at Duke. There are kids at Duke who work harder than some of the kids at Swarthmore. Heck, there are kids who work their butts off in Athens. On average, Swatties may work a little harder, but it’s only because, on average, they really enjoy their classes…a lot.</p>

<p>Will you always have some work you “should be doing?”. Yes, of course. It’s college. I’ve never heard of a college kid who didn’t have some work he “should be doing”. You could go to your local community college tomorrow for lunch and ask kids in the cafeteria. I bet every single student there has “too many” assignments they need to do. Catch 'em during exam week and they’ll probably even be a little panicky. That’s college.</p>

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<p>The students at Swarthmore are smarter too.</p>

5

<p>swarthmore has a cool psychobiology program you should check out! It may fit your interests perfectly</p>

<p>I’m a transfer applicant with little hope of getting in, but that’s what I would major in. I’m also curious abou tthe rumors of an unbearable work load</p>

6

<p>In a nutshell it sounds like you want to be at Swat except for the distance & money, & distance is a big problem for some kids. Bowdoin seems like it’s out, because it’s also far away & your heart is more with Swat. Duke is a 7 hour drive, which is really too far for a weekend. So, being completely logical, if you decide that you want to be near enough to home for a weekend visit, then your only choice is really UGA, which also happens to be free.</p>

7

<p>Yea, I am sure the students are much smarter at Swarthmore, Duke kids are pretty dumb and all…</p>