But now back onto the point of this blog, I do that often don't I go off on a tangent.. ha tangent I also had a maths test today.. here I go again! I'll stop I promise!
So onto my college road trip.. WOW! It was fantastic!
You all knew due to the fact I told you in my last post I had two storms to face: Hurricane Sandy and Frankenstorm. But this only altered our plans a little: Here was the altered timetable of our week:
Saturday 27th October: Flew to Washington stayed there that night
28th- Drove 2 hours to Charlotesville, Virginia
29th- Visited University of Virginia (UVA)
30th- drove to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had evening there
31st- HALLOWEEN: Vistied University of North Carolina (UNC)
1st- travelled all day to ohio
2nd- Visited Ohio State University
3rd- Drove to Washington.. travelled home!
So we basically did a triangle on a map as shown below:
Now onto each individual university...
Lets start with UVA.
Now UVA didn't really get a fair chance due to the fact that as the storm was so close to them they had cancelled all classes and tours and all the students were told to stay inside!
So when we got there.. no one was around.. the weather awful!
I was NOT impressed! moreover I was a bit disappointed!
As tours were all cancelled we went by (my family and I) the dean of students which was open compared to the dean of admissions and we got a meeting with the dean of admissions to answer all my questions and a private tour by the senior associate of the Dean of Admissions.
So in actual fact we got alot of benefits to no tour being on!! The way they spoke about campus convinced me it is somewhere I definitely want to apply to.. so thats staying on the list!
The only drawback: the area of charlottesville, especially downtown I was not impressed with the shops.. I am kind of a city girl but the city of charlottesville was basically the UVA campus!
So maybe not my first choice! But it did provide me with alot of information that I needed and wanted!!
UNC
I have a friend 4 years my senior who left my school to attend UNC on one of the best scholarships in the world: The Morehead Cain, more will be on this in my scholarship post! So when we got there we made plans and she invited me to spend the evening with her. I got to see nightlife of a university and I LOVED IT! I REPEAT, LOVED IT! I met all her friends, who were (gorgeous- the guys and the girls!) and incredibly friendly and welcoming. She showed me the stadium, dorms all they don't show on the main tour!!
I was in heaven.. I could totally picture myself going there.
The next day we had a tour and session booked.. suprise suprise at the session I was the only international student.. in fact the ONLY student not from North Carolina.. out of about 50!!!
The tour was fantastic, our tour guide was y a sophmore and senior student who never hesistated when I asked a question, provided such a huge amount of information! I would love to do that when I get to university!
I just couldn't get over the amount of study spaces there were.. you could study everywhere... everywhere!!
The librarys huge.. facilites amazing.. student organisations something out of a movie!
Plus.. the sorority houses as one picture below.. were just like out of a movie!!!...
However still with this university, there may have been a large town and 2 shopping centres (large) just down the road still Chapel Hill was mainly UNC.. but I did love UNC!
As you can see from my timetable I was at UNC on Halloween.. that meant everything including the frozen yoghurt was pumpkin themed... I love pumpkin so this was a real plus for me! (The fro yo was amazing!) .. wow I'm running out of adjectives...!
There is a tradition that every halloween in Chapel Hill on Franklin street (one of the main streets on the campus) 30,000people go there all dressed up to just walk around. The street is closed from 9-12PM and someone told me they hire $200,000 worth of police just for that night!! We stayed till 10.. I had seen enough.. that was exactly the type of thing i wanted to be doing on campus!!
Now onto OHIO
The truth was I didn't have high hopes for Ohio.. it was in columbus, a big industrial city much like London.. with 55,000 people in it.
When we got there we went out for dinner at a part near the campus.. not realising it was literally a road away.. I didn't see any students, well I didn't think I did!
Now onto the good news.. I went onto campus the next day.. and when I got on and saw all the students walking around and happy just like in UNC (more so in UNC though) and I feel in love.. again! We went to the student centre and picked up a map due to the fact no tours were running that day.
But fate was good to us again like in UVA.. we mistakenly fell upon a 'honors and scholars program' for american students and was told we could happily join their 2.30 tour!
Our tour guide was amazing, she was a 5yr nursing student and she like the other guides spoke with such confidence and gave me so much information!
We got to see the dorms, the gym, libraries!
Bigger than UNC.. but not too big that I felt isolated!!
I loved it... and the best part of it was the street I ate on the previous night is a 2min walk from campus, theres places to eat on campus and off.. the city where internships are in there many.. right around the corner! The biggest shopping centre I have ever been to 25 min drive.. wow.. wow!!!
As it was bigger it offered less study abroad programs.. I will do a whole blogpost dedicated to what that is and what uni's said to me about it.. but I am definitly undertaken sometime abroad.. abroad!!
At all UVA, UNC and Ohio there was a central hub of students,
UVA: THE CORNER
UNC: THE PIT
Ohio: THE OVAL
Mainly just for the bottom two.. due to the weather these areas were just like a movie you had students holding up boards 'vote for sam for student boy president'
'run a 5K for cancer'
'sponser a rower'
.. It was something out of a dream..
And this is what I feel you would miss in an English university
The word 'keen' doesn't exist there.. eveyone is passionate about something and is not afraid to show it.. isn't that just amazing!
Doing extra-cirriculars doesn't separate you into jocks,... etc eveyones still together.. a big family as they called it!
And that is why I want to go to an american university....
Overall all the 3 univerisities offered me something different:
they all offered me though what I wanted a campus university, with student life!
UVA + UNC: as they were smaller they could offer the more focused attention.. more study places I felt.
Ohio: could offer me the city.. shopping, nighlife other than on my campus...
Such a hard decision.. hopefully I'll have that choice to make if I get into all 3...
So some top tips for what you should think about if planning a college roadtrip:
-Don't go when theres a natural disaster
-Only go to a maximum of 4.. too much information to take in otherwise.. my bag of brochures and information is taller than me!
-Visit different types of universities so you know what you want- small/big, rural/city??
-Drive everywhere don't fly
-Try to book your places around tour dates.. they are free and worth all the time
-make a meeting to talk to the admissions people especially if you are an international student
-HAVE FUN ON THE TRIP:
-make a college road trip cd
-Or bring lots of revision to do as I DID, for the long journeys!!
-Look on college boards tips for college visits for more advice!
Hope this was all helpful
Much love
S xxx
BTW: IT WAS ELECTION CRAZY EVERYWHERE..I LOVE THAT.. In 4 yrs when this happens again. I will be a college student!
