Imagine if you will a typical Monday lunchtime. You are just waking up and realizing that you have a whole week of school ahead of you. Face it, it sucks. Then, to put salt in the wounds, you're expected to care about the Brown Baggers and attend.

I am now going to tell you to go to them.

You might think I am crazy or sadistic. But truly, one of the things I regret most about junior year was missing out on the Brown Baggers. For example, at least THREE of the colleges on my list came to visit at lunchtime. I wasted time researching colleges because I didn't first go to Brown Baggers. Below, I debunk common myths of them.

1. I'm not going to go to that college, why waste my time?
First off, very few of you know which colleges you AREN'T going to in the Fall of junior year. Even more importantly however, every college has ten colleges that are a lot like it, they just might be in a different part of the country, have different financial options, etc. The point of the Brown Baggers is partially to look into a certain college, but it is also a chance to find out what you even want from a college. For example, you go to the Brown Bagger for Bradley University (a perfectly wonderful institution!), but you don't like it. Well, WHY didn't you like it? What would you want differently? These questions will be very useful to you when you're actually building a college list.

2.Brown Baggers are just for seniors
If you had a preconceived notion, or you have had a senior tell you this is true, let me just squelch that idea now. If a Senior is applying EA/ED, they need a college list RIGHT NOW. If they are applying Regular, they need a college list by NOVEMBER. Brown Baggers last ALL year. So, it is true that seniors are at Brown Baggers, because they are finalizing their lists and double-checking the ones they have. However, these are for juniors as well. These counselors want juniors to come; their whole spiel is to people just beginning their lists. So, being a junior is not an excuse.

3. There is no other students in the room! How embarrassing!
There is a general philosophy around Uni that dances aren't fun, so people don't go. However, if no one goes, OF COURSE IT WON'T BE FUN. If every student walks by the room saying that no one is there and they don't go in, NO ONE WILL GO IN. And, it is more embarrassing to tell Lisa next spring that you are interested in let's say, oh, Illinois Wesleyan, and there was Brown Bagger that you didn't even look into. When you see an admissions counselor in a classroom and you are interested, go in! In fact, if no else comes, think about ALL the questions you get to ask, and all the personalized information you'll get!

4. How come it's places like Knox, Michigan Tech, Reed? I want Stanford/Princeton/Yale/UPenn!
Thousands of students want to go to these schools. They are big name, prestigious universities for a reason. Now think, even though Uni is an elite public high school, it's in Urbana. If you were a big name institution, wouldn't it make more sense to go to a metropolitan area like CHICAGO or ST. LOUIS, where people all around can drive and meet in the big city? That's the reason why we don't get these schools. It would be a waste of their time to come. However, we are fortunate because we get plenty of schools all around that are VERY cool and have TONS of scholarships. Another thing: some of the happiest and most successful college grads came from small, lesser known schools that matched who they were, not the other way around.

Anyway, sorry this blog is so long. Speaking of great things to attend that you wouldn't think about, tonight the director of admissions from University of Illinois is coming to DCL, room 1320, from 7-8. I highly recommend it because U of I is NOT a back up school, especially in such subjects as Engineering. Also, it is a great institution, and not a failure to leave CU kind of school.

-Celinda :D