University of Kansas Tour

So the time has come again for me to continue the search for what college I am going to enter when the fall of 2012 comes around. I am on Spring Break this week, as most students (especially college students) should be, and a few weeks ago my mom and I decided to go and check out of a couple of colleges since we had the time. The first one that we decided to head out to was the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. 
I hadn't looked into Kansas very much because I had really never heard of their journalism program and I had only learned of it through one of my mother's work friends. So, I decided that I would check out the website and I liked what I saw and so I requested info and signed up for a tour. On Monday, my mom and I left Fort Collins for the eight hour drive to Lawrence. The drive was nice, straight, and easy, but Kansas is very empty and kind of boring to see just fly by the window for eight hours. Sadly, my mother did not let me drive on the way out to Lawrence. I don't know why, but she just did not want me to drive.  But oh well, we made it and that is what matters. We got into Lawrence around eight or nine o'clock and checked into our hotel, got some dinner, and basically just went to sleep. 
The next day, my "Jayhawk day" started at around 8:00-8:15 AM in the KU Visitors center where as with every other tour I have taken, the day started with and information session about the school, the students, and just what was interesting about the school. One of the things about KU that really struck me that I loved was how tradition rich the school is. The students at KU are very superstitious and have many different traditions that they adhere to. I come from a high school where tradition is also very, very important so I loved that. The many traditions at KU range from things with graduation, traditions with their clocktower, many statues on campus, and many more. After learning about the school in the info session, the large group that was there was divided into three smaller groups and put onto buses so that we could go to where the tour started at the Kansas Union. The buses that we were on were part of the bus system that can take anyone anywhere they want on campus. The routes are a little weird and would take some time to get used to, but after awhile, I believe that one would just know them. I learned on my tour that one bus takes students to the local Target, and that was also pretty cool. After reaching the Kansas Union by bus, each bus was then broken down into at least three, if not four, even smaller groups, led by KU student ambassadors for the tour around campus. The ambassadors took the groups around the main part of campus, which is pretty much just the main hill on campus. From there one can see almost every building on campus no matter how far it is away from the hill. 
After the tour my mom and I went to Stouffer-Flint Hall for a meeting with Cassie Keefer, the Recruitment and Retention coordinator for the KU J-School (that's what they call the journalism school) with two other prospective students interested in journalism. We met with her and got her spiel about why you should choose KU over any other school. What really impressed my was the many college Pulitzer prizes that KU has won and is currently in contention for and that KU is also winning many awards in many other disciplines of journalism too. That was really, really impressive to me. After hearing that we went on a tour of the journalism buildings and then we found their TV studio. All I have to say is wow. And this is not the TCU wow, this is a completely different wow. KU's TV news set is completely virtual. There is no set, no desk, only chairs. The desk and the set that you can see behind you on the TV in the studio is not there and that was really cool. The virtual desk even had the reflection of the person sitting behind it. That was amazing and was hugely impressive. I know that the fake desk would take some getting used to, especially having the fake desk in front of you while reading the news. 
After seeing that and talking to some people on the TV and newspaper staff, the journalism tour ended and I went with my mom to find the rec center and the Allen Fieldhouse. The rec center is insanely nice. It has a full quarter-mile track, a gigantic weight room, at least six basketball courts (4 full, 2 half I believe), a floor hockey/indoor soccer rink (if that's what it is called), boxing stuff, a tae-kwon-do room, and aerobics room, and a virtual golf course. It was amazing. Then came the Allen Fieldhouse. I didn't get to go into the basketball part of it, but the Booth Hall of Athletics is AMAZING! Holy crap, it has all of KU's championship trophies from Big 8 conference, Big XII conference, bowl game, and national championships. One of the trophies that KU has, and I believe that it is for having the best record in the country in basketball, was a gigantic crystal basketball on a pedastal and I just wanted to hold that trophy because it just so cool. In the trophy case for sports other than basketball, KU has an Insight Bowl Trophy, an Orange Bowl trophy (which is way bigger than I thought it was), a ton of championship rings and trophies for championships that other sports have won too. The KU hall of fame is also very impressive. 
After seeing the Booth Hall, my mom and I were kind of tired, so we decided to head to the Kansas Union, grab some lunch, go to the bookstore, and then grab a bus and head back to the visitor's center. On the bus back, we met a KU ambassador from Denver and he gave us a lot of additional information that we needed, especially about housing, and after talking to him for awhile, we felt that we had a good grasp of KU, so we went back to our hotel, and I learned that I was so tired that I slept for four hours. It truly was a great day.  
I am also going to give ratings (out of 10.0) for each college I have visited so far: 
TCU: 
Info Session: 8.0/10.0 
Tour: 9.0/10.0 
Staff Meeting: 10.0/10.0 
Total: 9.0/10 

Northwestern: 
Info Session: 8.0/10.0 
Tour: 6.0/10.0 
Staff Meeting: 6.0/10.0 
Total: 6.67/10.0  

Kansas:  
Info Session: 8.0/10.0  
Tour: 7.5/10.0  
Staff Meeting: 8.5/10.0  
Total: 8.0/10.0 

PICTURE TIME!!!! (KU Edition): 
 view on the hill  Memorial stadium from the hill  Me on the KUJH set  The actual "set" of KUJH 

 What KUJH looks like to people watching  KU basketball trophies 2008 National Championship trophy  The Gigantic Crystal Basketball!  1988 National Championship Trophy 2008 Orange Bowl Trophy and 2009 Insight Bowl Trophy  The KU Rings and a list explaing what they are James Naismith! (KU Hall of Fame Pics now)  Dean Smith!  Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain!  Larry Brown!  Raef LaFrentz!  PAUL PIERCE!  KU rivalry display

University of Missouri Tour

And now it is time to take a look back on another college tour. The tour I am going to write about today is, as the title says, about the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Being a prospective student interested in journalism, this, like Northwestern, should obviously be one of my top choices because, not only is Mizzou the original journalism school, it is also one of the best journalism schools in the country. The Missouri School of Journalism is famous for its "Missouri Method" which is basically this. When a student is a junior and senior, they will be out getting real world experience in some sort of news media (and no, I did not get that from the Mizzou web site). One of the most popular, is KOMU, the Columbia (mainly University of Missouri) NBC affiliate, that is mainly student run. The reporters are all students on the newscast and that gives students a great idea of what it will be like when they move on and get actual jobs in the near future. 

But back to my experience. The day after my tour in the first part of the KU-MU Border War, my mom and I took the 3 hour drive from Lawrence, KS to Columbia, MO. It was a pretty easy drive that took us straight through Kansas City and past Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums, which are right on I-70. When we reached Columbia, we were not exactly sure how to get to the campus, so I suggested getting off on Stadium Boulevard and heading down that way. After driving for a little while, and hoping that we went in the right direction, we found Mizzou. The first thing I saw on campus was Farout Field. That stadium is impressive. It is a pretty open stadium, one could see straight down from Stadium Blvd. to the field. I was very impressed by that stadium, I would love to see a game there. After seeing that, I looked across the street and saw Mizzou's gigantic Medical Center. There's the Truman VA Hospital, The Student Health Center, and the Health Sciences Center. It was impressive. (Wow, I just realized that I use a form of impressive a lot. I need a thesaurus)
After getting some lunch, my mom and I drove around the campus. We went through Greek Town, up Maryland Avenue, down Rollins Road as far as we could go, down Conley Avenue as far as we could go, up 5th and 6th streets, down Elm St., down 9th street, down Paquin St., down University Ave., down Hitt St., and down Virginia Ave. and College Ave. That gave us a very full picture of the Mizzou Campus. After that we went and parked in the Conley Ave. Parking garage to wait for a friend of mine, Will Heckman-Mark, a freshman journalism major at Mizzou, and the person that got me interested in journalism, to get out of class so that we could talk to him, ask him questions, and learn about what life was like at Mizzou. We quizzed him about campus as he took us on a tour and told us what the buildings were, and then when we sat down to dinner at Addison's (which is really good, I had the Pulled Pork BBQ sandwich, and it was great) we quizzed him about life and the School of Journalism and basically what he has done since he has been at Mizzou. Everything Will said about Mizzou sounded amazing and it basically jumped Mizzou to #2, and very close to being tied for #1 with TCU, in my list of colleges that I want to attend in the fall of 2012. It was great to see him, especially since I usually only get to see him for about a week or two during the summer. 

The next day was the big day, it was tour day. And as with every other tour that I have been on, it started with an information session. One of the things that I liked about this info session was that before it started, a movie was playing in the room they had us in that showcased famous alumni like Brad Pitt, Sheryl Crow, Sam Walton (wasn't in the video that one is thanks to http://www.mizzou.com/s/1002/index.aspx?sid=1002&gid=1&pgid=325), Chris Cooper, John Anderson, and Kate Capshaw among many others. I also learned that Mizzou's mascot is named Truman the Tiger after President Harry S. Truman, a Missouri native. I also learned all the basic facts about Mizzou, and something that was notable to me was how they went way deeper into the scholarships available than any other college I have visited so far. After the info session, the walking tour of campus started. The tour took us through the main area of campus, which is Francis Quadrangle, past the Thomas Jefferson statue and tombstone (don't worry, TJ is buried at Monticello, the original tombstone was just given to Mizzou because Mizzou was the first land-grant university opened in the area known as the "Louisiana Purchase"). The tour took us through Lowry Mall, Ellis Library, the Mizzou Student Center, the Student Rec Center (which is insanely nice, the coolest one I have seen so far), and into a dorm room in Defoe-Graham Hall before letting us go for lunch. It was a great tour, probably the best on I have been on so far. 

After lunch, my mom and I went and tried to just meet with someone in the School of Journalism, since we wanted to skip the tour that we had set up for 2:30. We had a 12 hour drive ahead of us and we just wanted to get home. So we went and met Suzette Heiman in the Journalism Office real quick to get some more information about the School of Journalism. She sat down with us and gave me a ton of really good information that made Mizzou sound like a really, really good place to go to school. 

Right before we left, i made sure to get some pizza from Shakespeare's Pizza. It was amazing pizza. If I do end up at Mizzou, I am going to live at that place. That is how amazing it really is. On the drive home, I realized that I was kind of sad to leave Mizzou. Who knows, maybe I'll back in about a year and five months for a longer stay. 

Here's my ratings for Mizzou: 
Info Session: 8.0/10.0 
Tour: 9.5/10.0 
Staff Meeting: 9.0/10.0 
Total: 8.83/10.0 

  MIZZOU!!!!!!

University of Oregon Trip: Part I

So, here I am again in another state other than my home state about to go on another college tour. Might as well tell all of the people who actually read this about what has happened. I am calling this Part I because I haven't gone on my tour yet. That happens later today. And by the way, Happy Earth Day and Good Friday! This is a very special time of the year that people should cherish and definitely go to church if they are able to. Also, if possible, rest and do nothing from noon-3 PM today because well, it's a tradition in my church, and I would love to see it spread around to other churches. (another btw: that is the time from when Jesus was put up on the cross almost 2000 years ago to when he died) But back to the original reason for this post. This time, I am in Oregon. My mom and I flew out around 10 PM (Mountain time) to Portland, where we landed around 11:50 PM (Pacific Time). We then spent the first night getting our luggage, rental car, and going to the hotel, where we got to out room and promptly crashed. It was a long day and being able to sleep in the next day was amazing. We left Portland around noon to head down to where we were really headed. We took the two hour drive down to Eugene, Oregon to check out the University of Oregon. The drive from Portland to Eugene was actually pretty peaceful and relaxing. Other than the random town that would pop up from time to time outside my window, it was pretty much just farmland and forests. It was pretty cool. When we did finally reach Eugene, we drove around the campus and and basically got a feel of it, more of which I will get today. We found the EMU, Hayward Field (where the track and field team hosts their home meets), some fraternities and sororities, and basically every other important building on Campus. After we drove around for awhile, we decided to stop and get some lunch. While looking for the frats and sororities, we found this small place called Pegasus Pizza. Damn, was that good pizza. I had a create you own pizza (on which I got pepperoini and sausage) and it was freaking amazing! The pizza was greasy, but who really cares when it tastes as good as that pizza did. As with Mizzou and Shakespeare's Pizza, if UofO is where I end up for college, I will be a regular at Pegasus. After that we went and found Autzen Stadium (and PK Park, which to my surprise was right behind Autzen) and I took some pictures which I will post later. Then we went and found our hotel and relaxed for awhile. After relaxing, we went to dinner at a place called Steelhead Brewing Co. in downtown Eugene. That was another amazing place. I had the grilled roast beef and swiss cheese sandwhich and it was amazing. One of the best sandwhiches that I have ever had. The horseradish in the the sandwhich gave it a pleasant kick which I enjoyed. Well, that's basically my trip so far, I'll be back later with my review of my day on the UofO campus.

University of Oregon Tour

This is coming much later than I expected, but oh well, let's get on with it.

Last week, I had my tour at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. I got an absolutely perfect day to come onto campus and take my look at it, only problem was, so did 900 other people. While I did enjoy my time on campus in Eugene, my only advice to anyone in the college search process is this: Do Not, I Repeat, Not Go To Anything Like Duck Days. This event had, as I said earlier, 900 people there. When I walked into the info session at the beginning of the day, the amount of people was absolutely insane. I can't imagine being in a class of that size. I guess it helps that the Ducks were in the BCS National Championship in January and that their sports are basically being privately funded by Nike. Those two, especially the latter, will drive up the number of applications hugely. Everywhere I went during the day, I found there to just be to many people there. When we went to check out a residence hall, instead of having some groups check out some halls, and other groups check out other halls, they just had all of the groups check out one residence hall. That was the worst part of the tour in my book. I expected better from Oregon. The other part that i did not like was that when I went to the academic session, it was not telling me about the program and what they have done, what they are focusing on in the future, and basically what separates Oregon from other schools, like Mizzou or Northwestern (the two classic journalism powers). They (and this is probably because there were seniors and transfer students in the session too) focused on what to do when a student gets to college. They went through what classes a student signs up for and what to do to ensure success when a student begins college. This was easily the worst academic session I have gone to in my search so far. Oh, and the people giving the presentation in the academic session weren't even teachers in the journalism department. They were counselors (or academic advisors, whichever term is preferred). I coudn't believe that UofO couldn't even get one freaking teacher to come and talk to prospective students! This is something that they screwed up hugely. I guarantee that if I (or anyone else, for that matter) would have gone on a day other than Duck Days, I would have gotten a much better feel for the campus than I did with the HUGE group that was there.

Now, don't get me wrong folks. I still loved Oregon. The feeling around Eugene is one that I could get used to very quickly. I loved how basically everything in town runs around the UofO. (Fort Collins would be like that if CSU was good at something other than volleyball) I could see logos everywhere I went, and that was freaking awesome. I feel that Eugene is the quintessential college town. Also, when I took a trip down to Autzen, I couldn't believe how awesome it was in person. I would freaking LOVE to see a game in there. As I said in my last post, I found PK Park back there near Autzen and it was amazing! PK was definitely on of the best college baseball stadiums I have seen. I can tell just from my drive around and day at Oregon, that UofO is a great school that the students love to go to. I was there on Earth day, and there was a ton of activities going on around the EMU to celebrate it. It was the largest Earth Day demonstration I have seen. It was great to see how much the students cared. Even though I went to UofO on perhaps the worst possible day (not weather wise, but tour wise, just read above where the big numbers are) I am still highly interested in going to the UofO and becoming a Duck. It would definitely be an amazing place to spend four years. I don't think that it can top TCU or Mizzou right now, but I'll keep the people that read this posted on what happens in my college search as it gets closer to me applying and choosing my college.

But for now I'll close this post on this off-topic note. Please, Please, Please, Please listen to my radio show, KLIKSports with Jeff live on Wednesdays at 6 PM Mountain Time (5 PM Pacific, 7PM Central, 8 PM Eastern). It is my show that I have on a high school student run internet radio station based out of my hometown here in Fort Collins, Colorado. I really need some more listeners, so PLEASE tune in. (by the way, to tune in one must go tohttp://www.klikradio.org and hit the tune in button. The radio station works with iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer.) Please tune in! And if you want to, you can call in live to my show and give your opinion on what I am talking about or have talked about by calling 1-888-212-KLIK (5545). Please, I need listeners!

Oregon Ratings:
Info Session: 9.5/10.0
Tour: 8.0/10.0
Staff Meeting: 6.5/10.0
Total: 8.0/10

Colorado State University Tour

Ok, well, this happened about a month ago, but I feel that I should still report on it. In early May, I went and took the tour at the university here in my hometown, Fort Collins, CO. That university is Colorado State University. 
I went into the tour not expecting much, but came out with a much different perspective. I went on a school day, which meant that I was in a pretty small group, only about 10-12 people at the max. It was very enjoyable. After getting out of school and racing home to meet up with my friend, MacKenzie Brown (a former Ram swimmer and, obviously, CSU alum), and then racing back over to the campus, where we couldn't find parking, which is never possible on a college campus, we still arrived late to the info session, but whatever, we still made it. I missed a lot of the video they show at the beginning of each info session, but what I did see was pretty well done. There was a quick q&a with an admissions rep, but I didn't have any questions since I'm from Fort Collins and have a sibling at CSU (my brother, Alex, is going to be a junior at CSU next fall). Before I knew it, I was on my tour. Our tour guide, a senior economics (or sometihing like that, it was a month ago) major, who was honestly, one of the best tour guides I have had in this college search process. He took us absolutely everywhere and made this tour, the absolute BEST tour I have been on at any college. I have said this to many people since, I only wish I was more interested in CSU. This tour took us through the Oval, which is the oldest part of campus and a favorite hangout spot for students (and President Obama came and spoke there during his campaign in 2008), then past some academic buildings, through the Lory Student Center, the Rec Center, past the Lagoon, to a typical dorm, showed where the medical center is, where Moby Arena (the Rams basketball and volleyball arena) is, where the library is, and showed us a ton of classrooms. When it comes to college tours, one can't get much better than CSU. After finishing the tour, my friend MacKenzie and I went and got some stuff at the Bookstore and then we headed back home and I went to my choir concert that I had that night. (I didn't have time to meet with anyone in the journalism department at CSU, but I plan to in the near future) 
Now, back to my comment from earlier. I said (and have said to many people) "I only wish I was more interested in CSU." I'm not saying that I am not interested in CSU as where I end up next August, I just want to get out of Fort Collins more than I want to go to CSU. Since I have lived in Fort Collins for 12 years (and 13 after next year), I really just feel as if I need to go somewhere out of state for my college experience. I would recommend CSU to anyone else though. The athletics are on the rise, Boise State just joined the MWC, and the academics are great! And the town is freaking amazing! Fort Collins is an awesome college town (and Pizza Casbah, which is right across the street from CSU on Laurel, was just featured on Outrageous Food on the Food Network!). 

CSU Ratings: 
Info Session: 7.0 / 10.0 
Tour: 9.5 / 10.0 
Staff Meeting: N/A 
Total: 8.25 / 10.00

College Search Update

Alright, so I haven't posted on here since June, so here's an update on my college process and life in general.

First- College.

Since June I have started five applications. Four for colleges I have talked about since I started this account and surprise (although, if you know anything about my past, it really isn't a surprise).

College 1: THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI (Columbia, MO)

Although Mizzou was not my original #1 when I started my college search about two years ago it sure is now. When I started my application process back in August, Missouri was probably the second application that I opened (only because I knew that the next college that I will talk about's application was open at midnight the morning of August 1). When I went to fill out the application, I found it very easy and I loved it because I did not encounter one of those dreaded essays. I have not finished the scholarship application, but hopefully I don't enconuter one there either. I turned in Mizzou's application and I cannot wait to hear if I get in (once I finish that scholarship app and send my transcripts that is)! M-I-Z! (For more about Mizzou, read my post about my trip there below)

College 2: TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

TCU has been up at the top of my list ever since I took a trip there all the way back in February. They were the absolute first application that I opened because I love this school. Everything about this school is amazing and more people should consider TCU when going through this experience. I also found TCU's application very easy. It was a bit longer than Mizzou's, but still very easy. The only thing that I have not done is write their essay, but I will do that soon, because all I have to do is choose from one of four prompts that they provide and send in the application and my transcripts. I have just procrastinated a ton with this whole essay thing because, well, honestly, the phrase "college essay" sparks some fear in my mind. It freaks me out, even though I am a pretty good writer (or I've been told that I am), because this one 500-or-less word essay could decide whether I get into a school or not. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but it's the absolute hardest part of the whole application process, in my opinion. But, I'll probably sit down sometime this week or this weekend and just pump it out and finish the application. Then I'll send in my transcripts, and if TCU has a scholarship application, fill that out. (For more about TCU, see my post about my trip there below)

College 3: THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON


Here's the school that started out at #1 back when I started this process. To be honest, Oregon really piqued my interest because of the recent success of the Duck football program and the fact that their Men's A Capella choir, On the Rocks (an absolutely amazing group, just look them up on YouTube) was on the show, The Sing-Off, last year. Being both a football fanatic and an avid music freak (just ask my mother, as a little kid, the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a singer), this really put Oregon at the forefront of my mind when it came to college and choosing where I want to go. (College Gameday has also sparked a ton of intrest in them for me because Eugene seems like an awesome football atmosphere and the fans seem as passionate as any fans out there) When it comes to the application, I was really surprised when I opened Oregon's. It is easily the longest application I have seen. Their checklist is 20 items long. I know I'll be able to finish it but, I mean 20 items?! That's freaking insane! Their essay is also one of the essays that scares me even more than TCU's. Oregon (and my next school) are those schools that make it so that you can write about whatever you want. WHATEVER YOU WANT in the whole entire world. It could be anything that you've seen, heard, done, felt, tasted or whatever else there is to write about. For these I cannot even fathom what to write about. (If anyone wants to give some inspiation and tell me what they wrote about for thier college essay in the comments, that would be awesome) As with TCU's, it's only like 500 words, but it's 500 words that could decide whether or not I get into the school and recieve any scholarships. But once I decide what I decide to write about I'll finish U of O's app (their scholarship stuff is within the 20 item checklist), do their Honors College app (cuz I'm smart apparently [who knew?]) and send in those transcripts and wait to see if I get in! (For more on Oregon, see my post about my trip there below)

College 4: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
  
CSU, I'm really only applying to because my mom has a policy (and she had it for my brother, who is a junior marketing major at CSU, and my sister, who graduated from the University of San Francisco in May 2009 with a nursing degree and moving to NYC later this month because she got a job at a hospital there!) that I have to apply to one in-state school as a fallback if everying else fails. CSU's application is also done except for my letter of recommendation (I just have to turn in this sheet my counselor gave me to the teacher I am having write it) and write that essay. CSU is another one of those "Write whatever you want" schools. As soon as I decide what to write about for that CSU's app will pretty much be done. (To be fair to CSU, it is a GREAT school. Anyone who is considering going there, don't let my words discourage you, I've just lived in FoCo for 16 out of the 18 years of my life, so I just need to get out of here) But as soon as the application is done, just need to do the same as any other school (scholarship app [if there], transcripts, yada yada yada, For more on CSU see my post about my tour there below). And now, here comes the surprise!


College 5: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

"ASU?!?!?!?! Where the hell did they come from? This kid has had Kansas as his #4 since like day one! What happened to the Jayhawks?" That might be someone's reaction to this post after reading everything else I have posted on this blog. Well, I decided to forsake KU after talking to a good friend of mine, Mizzou sophomore journalism major, Will Heckman-Mark (whose exact words when I talked to him about applying to ASU instead of KU were "Fuck KU. Make it ASU." That kid freaking rules!) and realizing that Phoenix (where ASU's journalism school is) and Tempe are actually right next to each other. I thought Tempe was closer to Tucson, where U of A is. This along with the fact that I used to live in Scottsdale, AZ, my first football game that I remember was an Arizona Cardinals game back when Jake "The Snake" Plummer was their QB, they still had the old uniforms, and they played in Sun Devil Stadium, and that some of my friends from back when I was in preschool are going there put ASU over the top and I applied there. ASU has the world's easiest application. I finished it in 10 minutes or less. My only complaint is that the world's easiest application cost $65! That's freaking insane!!! The harder applications (Mizzou, UofO, TCU, or probably every other school in the country) all cost less than that. BRING YOUR PRICE DOWN ASU! I paid it, but I don't want anyone else to. Now all I have to do, since I have my ASURite ID is fill out the scholarship app, turn in the transcripts, and all that other jazz. (For more on ASU, go to http://www.asu.edu)

Well, that's my college update, now onto my life.

I started my senior year at Fort Collins HS on August 22. It's been a blast so far. I have become the sports editor for my school newspaper, Spilled Ink, and learning the ins-and-outs of putting a newspaper together has been so much fun. Our website is not up yet, but as soon as it is, I'll post the link to it here. Our football team (of which I am a member, playing both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball) is 3-2 (1-0 in confrence), with our wins coming against Loveland HS (37-7), Grand Jucntion Central HS (31-13), and Mountain Range HS (21-20). Our losses have been against Douglas County HS (39-38, OT) and Colorado 5A #2 Grandview HS (51-21), and this game should have been a lot closer, but our third quarter was abismal (3 INTS and an 11 yard punt). This week we play cross-town rival Poudre HS and our game will be televised statewide on Root Sports which is ch. 26 on Comcast. It's the channel that all the Rockies games are broadcasted on, if anyone was still not sure what it is. Also, I just turned 18 on Friday, September 30 and I am really happy now that I am considered an adult in all facets of life! That's pretty much it for my life.

If you lasted this long congrats! I glad that you actually care enough to read my whole post. I'll keep you people updated on my college search as it reaches the finish line!

Please comment below and let me know what you think! (In English please, not Russian)

-VintheDay 

The College Search Results

Well, since I haven't posted on here since October, there's a lot to catch my readers up on isn't there. Since I last posted, I have finished my senior year of football, during which I partially tore my MCL and missed our game against Fossil Ridge High School (our biggest rival). We finished 4-6, lost in the first round to the eventual state champions, Columbine High School, and we came pretty close to beating them, at least in my opinion. I was the sports editor for my high school newspaper, Spilled Ink, and I will get the articles that I wrote this year up on here soon. I swam this spring for my high school and after not swimming for four years, I ended up with a 24.6 second 50 free, and a 1:00 flat 100 free. I always think that if I would have swam for all four years, I would have been pretty damn fast. But, oh well. And back in May, I finally graduated.  

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