About Jake Lanier Expertise I am more than willing to answer questions about colleges and college life in general. Also, questions having to do with how to go about choosing a college that`s right for you.
Experience I'm currently a college student and recently went through this experience. I gained a lot of knowledge of how to do this properly.
Question Hello,
I am currently a senior in Wisconsin, and have applied to several schools. The two I am taking the most seriously are UW-Milwaukee and UW-Eau Claire. I plan on majoring in music and psychology. I am completely unsure which college I would rather go to. UWM is about 3/1/2 hours from my house, and UWEC is about 1/1/2 hours away. I have read up on both of the colleges and visited both. I have auditioned for music stuff at Eau Claire already and am awaiting my results. I have an audition for Milwaukee in early March but by the time that rolls around, I need to be wrapping up my college decisions. I am afraid that I won't know where I want to go in time. Also, there is another college in Milwaukee, Alverno College, that I applied to. I have little to no competition in getting a scholarship that would pay for my full tuition my first year there, and $6000 every year after. Would this scholarship be a good reason to go the school? It's a private, all girls, catholic college, and I think I would be very unhappy there, but I could tough it out the first year if tuition was free. Another thing that is making this decision hard is that UWM is a really good research school, so they have a strong psychology program. UWEC is more renown for their music program. They are both strong in different areas. I have been studying piano and saxophone privately for 10 years, so obviously music is a strong point in my life, but I am unsure what I would do for a career in music. I'm not very interested in teaching, but I have been looking into music therapy. Another question is, how practical is it to go to college for 2 majors, music and psychology? Would I even be able to use both of them at once? Would this keep me in school forever? These are all very tough decisions for me, especially because of my parents' different views on college. My mom is dead set on me going to UWEC, because its closer to home, and she thinks it's safer, and my dad could care less where I went. My guidance counselor at school went to UWEC, so he's practically their cheerleader, and has absolutely nothing negative to say about them. I guess I just wanted to go to UWM because there would be more opportunities to perform in music there, with the big city and all. UWEC is kind of a dead town aside from their college. I have such messed up questions about choosing a college that I don't really expect any answers, but ANY advice you could give me would be wonderful and I am very grateful.
Thank you very much!
Justina
Answer Justina,
First off, you've done an excellent job researching schools, and you have very valid concerns. I'll try to address your questions in order. Don't ever put yourself somewhere where you'll be unhappy. Just because you might get a discount on tuition, it's probably not worth making yourself miserable. Next, I would ask does UWM even have the possibility of music or does UWEC have the possibility of psychology? If they both have either of them, try and think which you have a stronger passion for. Are you doing music just b/c you've done it for so long or do you really want to pursue it? Are you taking psychology b/c you have a strong interest in it? Is there something you plan to have a career in either? Ask yourself these questions. People double-major frequently, it's not that odd. It might keep you a little longer, and that's for you to decide if it's worth it. Make a pro/con list of each school, of your OWN pros/cons. If being closer to home is important to you, make a note of it, if it's not, put it as a con. This will help you visualize and organize all your thoughts and feelings on these schools. Consider things like the aesthetic-ness of the campus, the type of people there, the size, the athletics, the level of music, the ability of extracurriculars, etc. Take a look at something like www.princetonreview.com and compare these two schools. Best of luck to you. If there's any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
