Why Public Schools ARE an Option

Hey,

Today, we have a blog from two current seniors Adam and Seth. Adam came up to me last week asking if I planned to address public schools in a blog. I told him I hoped to, but as a private school only applicant, I felt less qualified to write it. He offered to write a blog about why he chose to apply to public schools. Soon after, Seth joined Adam. They collaborated and produced a concise and thoughtful blog. I want to applaud their bravery. At Uni, applying to public schools is the choice of the minority (save U of I at Urbana-Champaign), and thus sharing that choice can be intimidating. However, a private school MIGHT not be for everyone, which they address. Let them be a lesson for your class: be respectful of each student's college process and school choices.

My College Choices: Why

[Adam]: Some Uni students may be surprised at the colleges that I decided to apply to: 3 public and 1 nearby private school. I applied to, and have now been admitted to, four schools: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The University of Iowa, Eastern Illinois University, and Illinois Wesleyan. Going back to junior year, when we were all starting to figure out our college lists, I can recall conversations where it was made clear to me that I was the minority by applying to mostly public institutions. I decided to apply to these universities because they all have programs I want and like, and each of them is a match for what I was looking for. The traits I was looking for in colleges were simply not present in the more famous, dare I say more elite, private schools. Here are some tips, tricks, and facts on developing your college list and finding public universities that I have found especially helpful with my search.

1) Ignore your classmates. You may run into classmates that think that some of your choices are sub-par institutions. I ran into this with EIU and what I learned is that you don’t have to share your plans, and you can just ignore them because state universities, even the ones ending in –IU each have their strengths and you shouldn’t rule them out.

2) Look everywhere and don’t rule public out. There are public schools out there that have the program you want, or close to it. I encourage you to visit a private and a public school and compare the two. You may think that you want a private school but that could change once you visit-so take those visits!

3) Don’t go for trophy. Mrs. Micele will tell you this plenty, but being a person who applied to zero ivy’s, zero schools more than 4 hours away, and 1 private school I am here to tell you that you should look at the education you will get, not the name of the school.

4) Public’s applications tend to be easier, earlier, and faster. One of the schools I applied to had zero essays, I just put in basic info and sent them transcripts and scores and I was done. I heard early and was able to start the scholarship process very early. Before winter break, I already had all decisions and scholarship offers from 2 universities.

5) Research- State universities, especially UIUC, have plenty of grant funded research projects that students can get involved in.

6) Name Recognition for employment. Yes, I said ignore the name, but most large state universities are instantly recognized by employers, internships, etc…

7) Extracurriculars. Public schools tend to be larger, which means more students, which means more student activities and organizations.

Overall: Your college choices are yours, and finding your match should be your number one priority, but don’t leave those public schools out of the running in your preliminary search.

Soon, I will have a blog with all the PCCs adding their two cents about test taking, since it seems a lot of you are terrified :]

-Celinda <3>