<p>Well, my little sister has finally made up her mind, and it makes absolutely no sense!</p>
<p>First, if any of you remember, my little anti-social sister wanted to major in sociology.</p>
<p>Then, she changed her mind and wanted to major in multimedia design/graphic design/digital art/whatever else it can be called and she set out on a search for schools who offered programs in that. The catch - she didn’t want to go more than a half hour or so away because she’s a mamas girl. She toured a few colleges, applied, and was accepted to all of them.</p>
<p>So where did she wind up choosing? Penn State (Berks Campus) </p>
<p>For a major in what? An associates degree in Liberal Arts. </p>
<p>Why Liberal Arts? Because Penn State Berks doesn’t have her major! </p>
<p>Believe me, I’m just as puzzled as you all are. She was accepted to all of the schools with her major, and is going to one without it. </p>
<p>and her reasoning for this choice of school? </p>
<p>She liked their dorm rooms the best.</p>
<p>(I’m beyond trying to make sense of my little sister)</p>
<p>I think you sister made a fine choice. Many, many students change majors in college, and a Liberal Arts major offers a broad education. Give her a little time to play the field and see what she wants to do after a year or two. She may surprise you with another goal that you never would have imagined.
Good luck to her, and to you!</p>
<p>Who knows, she changes her mind left and right so I can only imagine what she’ll come up with next. I’ve never heard of choosing a college based on their dorm rooms for a major you don’t even like.</p>
<p>My mom helped her make a spreadsheet of all of her schools, and it listed all this stuff (housing, major, classes, location, etc) and it had likes and dislikes
and she was going over the spreadsheet with me and when I said to her ‘what is it that you dislike about penn state’ she responded with ‘the major’.</p>
<p>But yet she’s going there because her dislikes at the places with ‘her major’ were the dorms.</p>
<p>Maybe by the time her two year program is done she will have figured what on earth she wants to do… haha. Right now she works in the shipping department at a factory and she says that is her ideal job for the future… to mail things… and my parents kind of told her she may want to have a back up plan called college… haha.</p>
<p>She loves art and she is really great at it, so I really do hope she decides to pursue that during college. She has a senior spotlight at her high schools big art show this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing that. She does a lot of computer graphics/animation/multimedia stuff on the computer and was really interested in the schools that had digital art as a major… so I guess we’ll see.</p>
<p>Well, fendergirl, CONGRATS to your sis on her marvelous application results! The important thing was for her to HAVE choices, and she definitely ended up with those! I hope that Penn State works out wonderfully for her–she can’t go wrong starting out in a broad way (liberal arts) and concentrating later. I wish her all the best…and I hope that she gets the dorm of her dreams! </p>
<p>You do understand that after two years at Berks she will be going to Penn State University Park, which has almost every major know to man and she can start any major at a branch campus first.</p>
<p>naz hockey, i know she can start any major at a branch campus first and finish her bachelors at UP, but no, she is not going to University Park. She’s doing her two year associates degree at Berks. She has no desire to go to UP and I don’t blame her. That campus is the worst and besides that she doesn’t want to go to a school that is four hours away so that’s a big no. (Not quite as big as their campus being the worst, but still a no). When she’s done with it she’s going to decide if she wants to keep doing school or whatever and look at other schools around here. And if she does decide to do Penn State she’s going to look at other branch campuses or whatever they are called in the area to see what 4 year degrees they offer because she does not want anything to do with UP… Which is smart on her part. That place is crazy and it and my sister would have a huge personality clash on day one.</p>
<p>Heh, that’s my major. Although to be fair, most of the stuff we learn you could theoretically teach yourself anyway if you get a basic art background. ;)</p>
<p>But your sister reminds me a bit of a friend of mine…she got a scholarship to the community college, so she went there to get an associate’s in something rather useless. Well she’s done her two years and apparently the same scholarship also allows her to enroll in a 4-year state school to continue her education. She has decided to take advantage of this opportunity by…spending another year to get a second associate’s degree. I guess because…two are better than one? I really don’t know what her reasoning is and I’m almost afraid to ask. She also changes her mind about what she wants to do with her life about every 6 months or so.</p>
<p>Fendergirl, she’s going to have a wonderful experience, it’s going to turn out to be the perfect choice, and it’s all going to be just fine, especially since she’s related to you. </p>
<p>I think the most wonderful people are those who make the most (seemingly) bizarre decisions. D has had five wonderful years, priceless actually, at a school where she pulled the application out of her bedroom trash can at the 11th hour just before deadline, where the coaches of the sport she cannot live without said “we don’t want you, don’t come here”, and where she made her final choice while on a visit (that I insisted she make) because she liked the name of their campus shuttle service.</p>
<p>not sure what is wrong with UP it is probably one of the best schools as far as student enjoyment in the country. It is by far the best campus so whatever. I think you should just let her do what she wants.</p>
<p>Fendergirl, You’re right Penn State, Berks is a strange choice. I know three guys that graduated with my son that are freshman there and their parents say they’re happy. There are a lot of kids that go far away to college and are uncomfortable. Perhaps your sister just needs to take baby steps of independence. Just because she is now planning to just get her Associates degree, doesn’t mean that she won’t change her mind in another year. It will work out!</p>
<p>If she is anti-social as you said, she may likely stay in dormroom a lot, using her computer creating graphic designs. A comfortable environment enhance creativity. Thus I think her choice make sense. What she may need is a nice PC with large screen as a graduation gift.</p>
<p>I hope she gets a dorm room. The three boys that I know that go there were not able to get housing. I know they don’t have enough housing for freshman but perhaps who gets in is tied to when a housing deposit is made.</p>
<p>she’s 10th on the waiting list for housing (which is funny, considering she chose that place based on their housing), and they said that’s a very good number as far as moving up and getting housing… with people deciding not to be on campus next year and or transfering to other campuses or whatever other reason she more than likely will get it.</p>
<p>As far as a PC for a graduation gift, her PC just died and she actually just bought herself a really nice laptop… so I don’t think she’ll be getting one for graduation. I can only imagine what my parents will get her for graduation. I got luggage. (haha)</p>
<p>UP is not her thing, trust me. My little sister has very small tolerance for idiots and penn state UP is full of them. she would see/hear some drunk person screaming in the street at two AM and who knows what she would say to them. She’s one of the most anti-social people i know, but she’s not afraid to put you in your place.</p>
<p>and i think its good that she’s only going a half hour or so away… close enough that she can come home weekends if she wants to, but far enough that she’s not at home and won’t be driving home just to say hi when she’s bored. she’s definitely my moms baby girl… I mean, someone needs to separate them eventually, haha. </p>
<p>here’s my philosophy on this whole thing… I think her problem is that she doesn’t like high school and she’s afraid she won’t like college and doesn’t want to committ herself to a four year program, which is what her art-sy ones were… so she found this two year thing and decided she’ll try that out… and then if she decides she likes college she’ll transfer her credits somewhere and get her four year degree. I mean, she’s saying its because of the housing, but I think this is the actual logic behind her decision. The funny thing is she actually does pretty well in school, when she actually tries. I mean, she doesn’t take AP classes like most of the people on this board, but she does well in what she takes. I think she’s gotten 3.8’s both quarters so far during her senior year. she had three art classes first semester which i know she loved and she has three different ones this semester which i know she loves… so I hope she figures out what she wants to do, haha</p>
<p>and of course she’s allowed to make her own decisions. :)</p>
<p>My sister made that of us and she printed and framed it for my birthday this year. And no, she didn’t use any photoshop filters or anything… She drew the whole thing in illustrator. I’m the blonde on the right. She’s the cute brunette on the left. :)</p>
<p>she decided yesterday that she wants an ipod but absolutely no way has any money for an ipod and that they are so expensive and that she needs all of her money for spending on her senior class trip to florida in two weeks. </p>
<p>today i offered to buy her ipod for her on my credit card and she could pay me back for it when the bill comes, and all of a sudden she has money for the ipod and bought it herself… </p>
<p>i’m so confused, haha! i wish i had unlimited money like that! can’t afford one day, buy it the next!</p>
I hope that Penn State works out wonderfully for her–she can’t go wrong starting out in a broad way (liberal arts) and concentrating later. I wish her all the best…and I hope that she gets the dorm of her dreams! 
</p>