Posting from the road of my rather sudden College Tour. I visited East Tennessee State University almost by accident and was *very* impressed by the small town atmosphere, the music program and the fact that I'd make a difference there. Later, I went through Pennsylvania and was on my way to visit Penn State, but driving through the very lovely and extensive campus at 8:00 on a Monday morning in the *summer* the place was PACKED! There's no way that I want to go to a school like that, so I *might* go to an open house July 31st, but odds are I won't be going to Penn State. Next, I went to Susquehana University and was *very* impressed by the tour that I got. It has a nice small atmosphere and a lot of opportunities for me, so that's excellent :) More details and some pictures as they become available...

Well....I got that ominous white envelope from the SAT people yesterday....<drumroll>Annnnnd the final answer is....750 Verbal, 640 Math for a grand total of 1390</drumroll> It's not a bad score, but I think I can do better...I'll take them again and this time I'll break 1400!
Lately, I've been thinking about Concordia because it's only a 3 year school (They go to school for 13 years instead of 12 in Canadia [No, I'm not so stupid that I don't know that our neighbors to the North are "Canada," it's a *joke*]) and that means that I'd graduate in the same year as all my friends who are Seniors. Of course, I'm not keen on the idea of a school that's in another country (especially a country so closely linked to France), but only time will tell I suppose.

Took my SATs this morning. I was a little nervous, but then mom calmed me down by pointing out that at least one of the schools I'm seriously considering (Franklin Pierce) isn't terribly concerned with SAT scores and judging by my PSAT score, I was fine. Anyway the test wasn't as hard as it was when I took it in 7th or 8th grade (of course I only got like a 950 that time, so hopefully I'll do a bit better, heh...). I had lots of time left over after each section and even though I had to sit behind my ex-boyfriend/mistake, it wasn't that bad. Only thing I'm mad about is that they made me put my water bottle in the attendance office until after the test and I forgot to get it when I left :( Oh well, at least they didn't take my precious Altoids ;)

Well since AOL wouldn't let me on last night, I have to post my comments on the college fair NOW. This is what I wrote Last Night when I got back:
I just got back from the College Fair and...wow! First of all, I'm half-asleep because I took some allergy medication before I went, and I'm DEAD tired. But I learned a lot. I'm looking at Franklin PIerce and Concordia University in Montréal, Canada (Yes, Canada). I'm looking into it, but I'm exhausted. All in all, the fair was a VERY good resource.

I just went through everything. Mom brought me brochures from 24 schools. I'm looking at Franklin Pierce because it turns out they've got a program called The Walk which is basically a semester long walk through Europe, applying practical knowledge and things like that as they walk 10 or 12 thousand miles. Looks very interesting, but then so does Hofstra's program of choosing your own degree. All questions will be answered tonight I hope...

College fair tonight. Mom took off work to look around and give my info to some schools for me. She came back with 6 pounds of brochures from schools! I have to sift through it all before we leave! Ugh!

Nice music program and it's pretty close. I'm so proud of my mommy, she went on the computer all by herself and looked this place up for me :)

I saw an artists' colony type thing at this school and it's a great campus, plus I love Tennessee, but I'm not sure how their music program is.

Mom had me check this one out, but I dunno...It's got pretty much *no* music program and the price isn't even that good.

Wow. LOTS of choices for majors and courses and just...wow!

Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Figured MSU would be all sports but It's actually got some interesting looking programs.

Very small music program. This goes on the bottom of the pile methinks...

From their website: "...Owned and in part supported by the...Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the college enrolls a small but diverse student body..."

I don't think I really want to go to a school where one of 3 areas of focus is Christian Service.

It's got most of the programs I'd want, but I'm concerned with the fact that it used to be all girl and Roman Catholic.

Got the classes I need but *whoo* is it expensive! Well, might as well save it to be checked out again.

They've got my programs and the campus seems nice enough from what little I saw. I like the fact that the campus is on a network that can be accessed from the dorm rooms.

From their Form Letter: "...distinctive learning environments for women and the opportunities we offer for personal and professional achievement..."

(Believe me, I was as shocked as you are!) They've got music programs and Theatre and all, so it should be alright...

Return Address: Department of the Army (Don't they learn?)

Return Address: Immaculata College Immaculata?

Hmm...They've got all the fields of interest I'm interested in and the campus looks nice...this is a definite possibility. Of course it's a big on the high side, price wise. Ah well, we shall see.

My choice actually. It's got all the programs i'd be interested in: Music, Drama, English, Computers. It costs a lot of money though, so I'm requesting financial aid info. It's a good sign when on the main page it advertises a festival dedicated to your favourite composer :)

Hmm...Only music I see...Weak in the liberal arts this college is...Look at it again I must...

Yeah...I'm thinking this is a "reach school." They offer everything I need though...

They've got music and drama and it looks nice enough even if their server is slow ;)

They've got music and other things, so that's worth a second look.

From their website: "Fordham is New York City's Jesuit University."
From another website: "The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order. Its members are popularly known as the Jesuits."

Pro: Has all my intended areas of study and a nice looking campus
Cons: Over $20,000 (yikes!) and I'd have to be in Washington DC. Too close to politicians for my tastes...

Hmm...seems like a stodgy (sp?) old white man's campus. Not enough emphasis on the more liberal liberal arts, so that's out.

No music, No nuthin' good.<

Hmm...Music and Theatre are squished together under one major...Not a good sign. *sigh* But they're local and offering scholarships so I might as well get more info.

From their form letter: "...Chatham College, founded in 1869, is highly regarded and is one of the oldest colleges for women in the nation..."

I was afraid this was another all girls' college, but it's not and it's liberal arts. I can get a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Writing, Theatre...gotta check back here

Took me until the website to realize it's a college for women only.

Their music program is pretty good. Separate college for Arts and Sciences which is probably very good. At that college, they offer Computers, Music and English. No Theatre that I can find, I'll have to look in on that.

Nope. Not a good sign when my areas of interest have all been shoved together under "Humanities." I need a school that focuses more on music and the Arts.

Not bad, not bad...I know they've got music programs. Their brochure was pretty bad (big pages of big and little text on brown paper, very blah) but their website's asthetically pleasing. I'll look into this one.

Return Address: Department of the Army

Er..um...lemme see...no. No theatre program to speak of and forget about Music.

From their form letter: "The College of Notre Dame of Maryland is a Catholic liberal arts college for women."

Hmm...It looks nice enough, but it's "very competitive" so I'd probably be wasting my time. With that, they also don't talk about their music program too extensively which means it probably isn't that good. Usually they mention *every* possible good thing about the college in the packet they send. Shame too, 'cause I liked the name.

I am VERY Impressed with this school. I'm gonna look through this once I finish going through everything.

hmm...they've got music, they've got cute little reply by mail cards too :) I'm a bit leery about any school that has a small 8-paged information "passport" with one full page being a photograph of a football player...

Yeah, speaking of Reach Schools... I don't think I'll ever get into Julliard for music. Mike Midlarsky goes to Julliard for music. I am not Mike Midlarsky.

I believe this is what my guidance councellor called a "Reach School" - a school I should strive for but probably won't get into. I've got a lot of those, especially with my GPA, heh...*innocent whistle*

I went to their open house. Nice music program, same with theatre and it's got good tech stuff as well, but I don't know if I'd like going so far away...