Non-traditional college experience

cranberries21
Sun, 07 Feb 2016 08:33:16 +0000

I’m really trying to research campuses/social life/culture/etc. and making sure I choose the right school and am surrounded by like-minded people is exceedingly important to me. Getting a quality education is important to me, but I’m choosing to go out of state because I’d like college to be a breath of fresh air from the small town I live in and have the opportunity to be surrounded by new people and make new friends and connections.

I’m really not looking for a typical college experience (football games, extremely prevalent Greek life, binge drinking cheap beer, you get it.) I also do not want to be on an extremely conservative campus. Somewhere in the middle would be nice! I see myself as kind of an old soul and don’t feel like I fit the mold of a typical undergrad student and don’t have the desire for meaningless parties with immature guys/girls, tailgating at sports games, etc. (No offense to those who are - just not me!)

After researching colleges, I really feel like NYU would be the perfect option for me in terms of being surrounded by like minded people. I’ve read that NYU attracts independent, mature, professional, driven students and Greek like/athletics/etc isn’t extremely prevalent on campus. I’d love to go to New York and I love the city, but realistically I’m hesitant because I need sunshine and more than just concrete and buildings all. the. time. I would love to go to a university in California, preferably southern and near the city and/or beach. I would love to go to Pepperdine but worry over how religious it seems as I am Christian but am not extremely religious/have the desire to be surrounded by people who are over the top religious. If anyone has any suggestions or knows of any colleges that would potentially sound like a good fit for me, please be my sigh of relief and help me with my research/decision process!! Thanks so much in advance!

(Also, I’m getting my AA at a CC and plan to transfer to get a bachelors in psychology if that helps.)