To continue developing my American Dream, I began looking for the best liberal art schools in the US. I was mainly looking for universities in the East Coast because my two sisters are studying there and most of my family lives there. So my list was looking a little like this:
- Wakeforest - Connecticut - Claremont Mckenna | - Bentley - Rollins College - Bowdoin | - Williams and Mary - Santa Clara - Skidmore - Dickinson |
As I began looking into each school and going through the programs they offered, I realized that I really had no idea what a liberal arts school was. To me, a liberal arts school was one where I could focus my undergraduate studies in business as well as in other topic areas. But after doing some research into the schools shown above, I realized that it really means getting an overview of the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and natural sciences. And although I do have some interest in these areas, I know that I want to focus most of my studies in business. But at the same time, I don't want to attend a business school because I don't want to only take business courses.
As you can see, by now, I was pretty confused and I asked my mom, a college prep teacher, for some help. She explained to me that just because I attended a business school did not mean that I was only going to be taking business courses. As a freshman, I would be taking both business and liberal arts courses in order to develop expertise in historical, cultural, and contemporary issues, which is something employers greatly value. And in certain colleges I would even get the opportunity to do a concentration or a minor in a liberal arts area.
As you can see, by now, I was pretty confused and I asked my mom, a college prep teacher, for some help. She explained to me that just because I attended a business school did not mean that I was only going to be taking business courses. As a freshman, I would be taking both business and liberal arts courses in order to develop expertise in historical, cultural, and contemporary issues, which is something employers greatly value. And in certain colleges I would even get the opportunity to do a concentration or a minor in a liberal arts area.
Now that I knew this, I switched gears and began looking for that "dream" business university. As I did this, I realized that there are so many great universities out there but we only tend to focus on the Yale, Harvard, and Stanford that everyone knows. I, however, was looking for a university that was not necessarily the most prestigious, but that had excellent academics and a good location. One where your teachers are accessible and where there is a sports culture, one that's innovative and that believes in experiential learning, and one thats affordable and realistic.
After sitting down with my mom to discuss what schools I should apply to, she gave me a list of six schools which have recognized business programs and that would probably offer me some financial aid. I added three more schools of my own choice and spent the rest of the afternoon looking into each of their websites to get a feel for the programs they offered.
After sitting down with my mom to discuss what schools I should apply to, she gave me a list of six schools which have recognized business programs and that would probably offer me some financial aid. I added three more schools of my own choice and spent the rest of the afternoon looking into each of their websites to get a feel for the programs they offered.
For instance, at Babson, when you're a Freshman, you invent, develop, launch, and manage your own business with 10 other students and 3000 dollars granted by the university. Pretty cool right? But the best part of it all is that each group must donate 80 hours of community service as well as the business's profits to an organization. In Northeastern, on the other hand, you are given the opportunity to do 18 months of your five years in college as internships where you work with real business's and actually get payed! I found this really cool because it provides you with real world experience, and that is ultimately what employers are looking for in student graduates.
Looking through each university and the programs they offer has also made me aware of majors that I may wish to pursue. Majors such as Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation are ones that have really called my name. But I don't plan on deciding on one, or declaring my major, until I get a feel on each one of them. Luckily, in most universities you don't need to declare your major until your second year in college. Thus, this gives me the opportunity to take different courses and experiment with them to see what area of business I would like to focus on.
Having looked into universities also taught me a lot about the importance of a positive online presence. For most students, especially foreigners, the way they learn about a university is through their webpage. What I've noticed is that the schools which least called my attention where those that didn't have very detailed explanations of their programs in their websites. Schools like Babson, however, managed to "sell" their university to me through their website because it was extremely detailed and user friendly.
The next step in finding my American Dream is to narrow down my list of nine schools to the three that I like the most. In order to do this, however, I need to continue researching into each of the nine universities to see which one fulfills my criteria of a "dream university" the best.
Looking through each university and the programs they offer has also made me aware of majors that I may wish to pursue. Majors such as Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation are ones that have really called my name. But I don't plan on deciding on one, or declaring my major, until I get a feel on each one of them. Luckily, in most universities you don't need to declare your major until your second year in college. Thus, this gives me the opportunity to take different courses and experiment with them to see what area of business I would like to focus on.
Having looked into universities also taught me a lot about the importance of a positive online presence. For most students, especially foreigners, the way they learn about a university is through their webpage. What I've noticed is that the schools which least called my attention where those that didn't have very detailed explanations of their programs in their websites. Schools like Babson, however, managed to "sell" their university to me through their website because it was extremely detailed and user friendly.
The next step in finding my American Dream is to narrow down my list of nine schools to the three that I like the most. In order to do this, however, I need to continue researching into each of the nine universities to see which one fulfills my criteria of a "dream university" the best.