Decisions

The farther along senior year goes, the more decisions I have been having to make. Everyone my age is experiencing this same thing as well. I've been thinking about college and what I'd like to do in the future since about sophomore year, and as time goes on, the pressure keeps building and building. There are so many things I have to consider when looking at colleges, and when deciding where to apply.

The colleges I applied to are only Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. I felt these two colleges had what I am looking for. I visit Mount Mercy as well, but their campus and majors didn't interest me as much as the other schools. During this past summer, before I applied, I visited ISU before UNI. I stayed at the schools during the past few summers for volleyball camps, but this was my first ever college visit, so I didn't know what to expect. I was really nervous, because I thought I would stick out like a sore thumb. The more I thought about it, duh I'm not going to be the only one visiting, and the kids are gonna be just as nervous as I am. As we arrived I looked around at the campus. I was scared because it seemed like it was never ending. This scared me a little. Once I got there, we signed in at a huge building and waited to take a tour with a dozen other applicants and their parents. As we broke off from the tour group, my parents took me around and showed me other places. I thought to myself, this campus isn't that big, I don't think it'd be too bad. When I got home I saw a map and realized we were only walking in about 1/4 of the campus. Once again I was back to being intimidated by the big campus.

My visit at UNI went a lot better. I love their campus because it's a lot smaller, and suits me well. I like the campus a lot, because it's pretty open but still small. Unfortunately though, ISU has the better academic program for what I want to major in: Interior or Architectural Design. So basically if I want a good, solid career, I need to go to Iowa State.

The decision now is if I want to stay in CR for a year and get some of my Gen Eds taken care of while at home, and then go to Iowa State for the rest of college, or if I want to just go straight to Iowa State. My parents say they are behind me whichever one I choose, but I think they really want me to just leave and get out there and go to Iowa State without any hesitations. I personally really want to stay home for another year, because most of my friends are staying here for at least a year or two before they leave the city. I hate to admit it, but Elliott does have an influence on where I go. If we stay together, I'd really like to be here another year with him. Of course my parents don't like the idea of that. It's really going to be a hard decision when I have to actually sit down with my parents and decide.