And now that I am an official high school graduate and moving onto college, here are the results of my college search.
The Winner: This school was founded in 1885, has a mascot that legend says was based off of Walt Disney, has 4 total campuses, and 70,000 students...... the winner is Arizona State University!!
When it came down to it, ASU was just way too good of an opportunity to pass up. The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is amazing. The actual building in beautiful, has an amazing tv studio (home of Cronkite News Now) on the 6th floor and plenty of other opportunities to work for the State Press and the radio station, The Blaze. The people that I will be attending school with are awesome and really cool and the guys and girl that I hung out with at orientation earlier this month may end up being some of my best friends throughout school. And when it came down to deciding whether I would attend ASU or the next school in my list, one event that I will go into later, made the choice for me when I heard about it. Having people I know really well close to me is also a reason that I chose to attend ASU. On the plane back from my visit to Arizona State I told my mom that fact. If I were to attend the next school in my list (I might as well say it now, the University of Missouri) the closest people to me would be in Chicago, 9 hours away. At ASU, I know 9 people in a 30 minute radius. If I were to get into trouble (which most likely wouldn't happen, but you never know), sick, or injured, having so many people so close will be extremely beneficial. There's also the sports. ASU, if my readers didn't know, is part of the Pac-12 (in the south division, as a matter of fact). The opportunity to cover the football team later on will be amazing because of their conference opponents (Arizona, Cal, USC, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, UCLA, and Stanford). I am extremely excited for this season when Northern Arizona, Illinois, Utah, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington State come to Tempe. And if Todd Graham can turn the program around and make it a perennial contender for the Pac-12 south title and tons of appearances in the Pac-12 title game (and bring it to Tempe every once in a while) that will make it even better. Another plus for ASU is the girls. If my readers don't already know ASU's reputation in that regard, let's just say that some of the hottest girls in America go to ASU. The party scene will also be pretty awesome. If it's not already obvious, I am extremely excited to start at Arizona State in August and that I will be moving in in less than two months is extremely exciting. FEAR THE FORK!!!
The First Runner-Up: This school just joined the SEC, their mascot is the Tigers, and I mentioned them in the part above about Arizona State,..... The University of Missouri
I chose not to attend Mizzou because of one main reason. I filled out an application for a scholarship from the Colorado chapter of the Missouri Alumni Association. I had to write at least one essay, which isn't that bad, along with a crap ton short answer questions, I'm pretty sure I had to send in a letter of rec, had to send them my transcripts, and do a phone interview. I thought this would be for a substantial amount of money, but when it came back, and I had received the scholarship, it was only worth $500. As I was about $10,000 short of where I needed to be to attend Missouri and become a Tiger, the $500 really didn't make a difference and I enrolled at Arizona State later that afternoon. Even with the pluses of attending a really established journalism program, and a school that is joining the SEC this year, I just could not afford to attend this great school and I wish them the best of luck this year (except on September 15 when Arizona State visits and beats Missouri!)
The Second Runner-Up: This school is based in a town called Fort Worth, their mascot is a frog, and won the Rose Bowl in 2011,....Texas Christian University
TCU is also just a school that I just cannot afford to attend. As a private school, their tuition is higher than most schools. Even with the awesome $11,000 scholarship I was awarded by TCU I was so far off of their tuition that I had to throw them on the back burner, and finally turn the heat off. I loved the Schieffer School and their Director, John Lumpkin, is an amazing guy and TCU has a bright journalistic future ahead of them. But they are in that class of schools that are making it infeasible for kids to go to college. It just simply costs too much and getting loads of debt from student loans while pursuing an undergraduate degree is just not worth it. Good luck in the Big 12 TCU! Beat the crap outta Texas!
The Third-Runner Up: This school has a football team that made an appearance in the National Championship in 2010 and won the Rose Bowl in 2011, their mascot is a duck..... The University of Oregon
Oregon opened up really strong in this race. From the moment I started looking at which college to attend, Oregon was in contact with me and it looked like they really wanted me to go there. And with the emergence of their football program and their a capella men's choir, On the Rocks (and they are amazing, just check them out on YouTube), they became one of the schools that I really wanted to go to. But sadly, my visit there was not that great and from then on, they just continued to fall down my list. Oregon was an awesome campus with an amazing football program and an awesome journalism program but it just was not the best fit for me.
And the Fourth Runner-Up: This school used to be called Colorado A&M, they have an up-and-coming basketball program, and the campus is in my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado......... Colorado State University
Although I will always cheer for CSU and I do love it, CSU was never really a college that I wanted to attend. From the beginning they were in last place and honestly, I only applied there because I was told that I had to apply to one in-state school and CSU has the best journalism program in the state now that CU has closed their J-School. So I applied there and decided not to attend basically from the moment I was accepted. I also didn't want my college experience to be just like high school and since pretty much all of my friends are going to CSU this fall or in two years after going to the local community college, I knew that I needed to get away (hence why all four other schools are out of state). I love CSU and I can't wait until they build their on-campus stadium, and I plan on being there when it opens, and I can't wait to see the future of the school.
But after it all, I am an Arizona State Sun Devil and as I said earlier, I cannot wait to start there in the fall. Fell free to tell me where you think I should have gone in the comments or say what you think about the whole search in general. I will have my school articles up soon so be looking for them!
-Vintheday
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