why I chose Grinnell.

adeolangelou
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:15:04 +0000

I figured it would be prudent to talk about why I chose Grinnell for the sake of all the kids who are kind of pulling their hair out about college. Because I too was in that spot and really confused about how I wanted to spend the next four years of my life and now I’m sitting in a state of complete contentment about both the certainty and ambiguity of my future.

Grinnellians are there to learn. They legitimately and unobtrusively want to recieve an education. Not just to land a job or accelerate themselves into those professional careers, but simply to know. To understand and question all their basic assumptions about themselves and life as they know it.

They also want to take charge of themselves. The idea of self governance that seems to reign over this campus gives me a profound respect for the inhabitants. They don’t just talk about accountability, they carry the whip and lash themselves and others with it. The amount of self-responsibility makes me feel that were I facing issues in my residence hall, I could safely confront a person and rightfully expect others to back me up when I can’t do it alone. Grinnell is definitely not a fend for yourself kind of world. Even in academics, there are unspeakable amounts of support. In the form of professors, tutors and labs of all sorts: reading, writing, math, science…

And the thing that really changed my mind about Grinnell is that yes, it’s in the middle of the cornfields, yes, it’s definitely not Cornell…but who cares? Grinnell certainly doesn’t. They don’t mind being in the middle of nowhere and they certainly don’t mind not having a name linked with prestige. Most of the kids who go there were the wierd kids in the back of class doing extra-credit work for really no credit at all. The kids who made up jokes about the French Revolution and DNA helicases. It’s not your typical, all-American school. It’s not your typical anything. You can be whoever you want to be at this school and everyone will accept you. Whether you want to study ancient languages and play baseball simultaneously or become a pumpkin harvester who loves math. It’s all here, waiting for you.

But think long and hard. Because it is in the cornfields. And it’s definitely not for everyone. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re hella interested if you certainly aren’t, and hella capable if you really aren’t.

So my list of reasons why I shouldn’t go to Grinnell kind of dwindled as weeks passed and eventually burned to a cinder after a recent, magnificent discovery:

And what was the last straw? Dude. They offer Arabic.