Advice On: Picking a University

Hey Everyone! As most of you know I go to the University of Guelph. I love my school and I am 100 percent certain that I chose the right school for me. I thought I would share with you how I came to this choice.

When I was applying to different schools I knew a few things. 1) I wanted to live close to home and if possible, at home. 2) I wanted to go for computer science/software engineering. I then had a few options. University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, and Wilfred Laurier University are all close to where I live. McMaster University and Redeemer University College were about an hour or so away from home so I also considered those. All of these schools had computer science and software engineering programs so then I had to make some choices. Redeemer is a private Christian University and the cost of applying was free at the time. So I applied there. I only got to choose three universities to apply to out of the four remaining schools. I talked with my guidance counselor at my highschool and she told me that she recommends McMaster over Laurier because they have a coop program. So with that I sent out my applications for Waterloo, Guelph and McMaster.

I then awaited my acceptance and rejection letters. But before I got all of my replies, I knew I wanted to go to Guelph. Here is what brought me to Guelph, and not the other schools I considered

Waterloo was my first choice then, but as the year went on, I realized more and more that Waterloo was not a good fit for me. It is a big university that seems to be spread out all over the city. I come from a small town and this big city feel scared me. I went with my Earth and Space Sciences class in grade 12 and sat in some of the lectures there, I felt like I did not fit in. I could not see myself in the classrooms, walking around the campus or eating at the cafeteria. I just didn't feel like I belonged.

My mom (who I love very much) is currently studying at McMaster. So she took me to visit the school on one of the days she had class. Her class was really interesting. I believe it was something about the history of Christianity. The people in her class were awesome. However, as we were walking around campus I saw black coats everywhere. I mean everywhere. I was wearing a bright green coat. McMaster seemed far to serious for me. Again, I could not see myself walking to the library to study, living in the residences or sitting outside under a tree. I didn't feel right.

I didn't end up getting accepted into Waterloo or McMaster. Getting those rejection letters was tough. Even though by then I had already gotten my schedule for Guelph and was planning for the upcoming year. I wasn't fun reading that I wasn't good enough for them. But it all worked out.

I got accepted into Redeemer a week after I applied. It was my first acceptance letter and I was so excited that they wanted me! They even offered me a scholarship! I looked around their website, researched all the costs and everything. As I was looking up all this information I came to a conclusion. This school is just too expensive. I couldn't afford the tuition and living expenses. I probably would have really loved Redeemer. Being surrounded by Christians would have been an amazing experience. But without a coop program and with all the costs I just couldn't do it. I declined their offer.

In March I got my acceptance letter into the University of Guelph. I was so excited! It felt good to be accepted into another school. I was pretty sure I wanted to go to Guelph. Even though I was wanting to just accept the offer, my dad recommended that we go on a campus tour. So we made the 45 minute trip out to Guelph and signed up for a campus tour. The tour guide was really enthusiastic and took us through all the different places at the university. I loved it. I could see myself sitting in the lecture halls taking notes, eating at the food court and studying in the library. I loved the outdoorsiness of the campus and I felt like I belonged there. At the end of the day my dad and I went to the bookstore and I bought an official University of Guelph sweater. My decision was made.

I posted this picture on Facebook after I made my decision. So pumped!

That's how I ended up at the University of Guelph. It was a tough process, I did come out with a few tips/suggestions for those of you who are applying to schools. Here are my tips for applying to university.

Do your Research.

Figure out what schools have the programs you are interested in. Do you want to be in coop? Will you be living in residence? How many years is the program? How much will it cost. Write it all down! I put all my information into a spreadsheet so I could compare the different universities.

Seek guidance from others.

Talk to you parents, friends, guidance counselors at school. They may have some good advice to offer you.

Pray about it.

This is a big decision. Pray and ask God for wisdom in choosing the right school.

Go on campus tours.

Visiting the campus is the best way to know if you like the school or not. I highly recommend that you go on as many tours as possible.

There you have it, my advice on applying to university. Feel free to leave a comment if you have other suggestions!