Entering the world of the blog...

Welcome!

This is a new venture for Anycollege.com; we hope to use this as a way to get a little more info out there in the webisphere (how's that for a technical sounding word?? :)) for kids getting ready to start looking for colleges or actually go to college. That being said, if you want to ask anything to us please feel free!

I would like to share a recent story of something I experienced while doing some research for our website. While at a local high school conducting a focus group with some juniors and seniors I asked the kids how many had chosen a college already. About half raised their hands. When I asked them how they found their colleges the answer was mainly "I heard about them from other people" or "I just knew about them". Upon further prodding I learned that many of them were attending school either within the same city as the high school or within a state away.

There certainly is nothing wrong with this. However when I asked the group if any ever considered looking at a small school on the East Coast or checking out info for a music school in California they all looked at me with a baffled expression. Finally one asked me (with that tone of voice that only high school students can do that clearly shows what is being thought about my intelligence level) "WHY would we do that?"

"Well" I replied "To see what else is out there. You never know, maybe there is a really cool school in Vermont or Oregon that is everything you've ever wanted in a college. You'll never know until you look!"

But, with a shake of a head (again, which clearly said "This woman is crazy") that far-fetched idea was dismissed.

However, I'd like to bring it up again in this blog. Expand your horizons! Check out schools you've never heard of! See what is being offered. When I began working at Anycollege I was amazed at the schools that are out there. Some have some really innovative academic programs, some have some really neat layouts (tell me putting all the art majors together in one dorm with studios available in the building isn't brilliant!) , some have activities that even now I would love to get involved with. While I am proud of the schools I attended seeing some of these other options made me wish I had really looked around a little more before making my decision. Who knows, maybe I would have gone for that degree in Cross Country Ski Coaching from the University of Maine!

If you know what you'd like to do take a look at all the schools that offer that program, not just schools that your friends are going to attend, that your sister went to or that are within 200 miles. Many of these schools are also actively recruiting students from out of state, so is a good possibility of some scholarships to make up for the possibility of out of state tuition.

Even if you don't go to one you can at least say you looked for something out of the ordinary!