Bouncing off of what Kaitlyn said...

I went home for Easter after an amazing spring break in England and Ireland, opened my closet, and got rid of half of my possessions. I realized that I've evolved in the almost 2 years I've been in New York City, and I really don't need a box of incense, or an Edward Scissorhands sweatshirt. (My Pokemon games are staying right where they are though, until I get an apartment, at which point they'll find a new nook in a new closet.)

Buried on one of my shelves was a Franklin & Marshall course catalog that I'd taken when I visited and, admittedly, fell in love with the school. I remember poring over the pages as a high school senior, waiting for my acceptance letters, dreaming of living in Lancaster and taking English courses at F&M. (I had no idea whether or not I'd actually get into Macaulay, considering how few are accepted.) Well, acceptance letters came, and, even with a merit scholarship of a whopping $7000, Franklin and Marshall was totally unaffordable. I didn't mind so much; my excitement over my acceptance to Macaulay at Hunter totally trumped whatever sadness I had about F&M, but I wasn't quite ready to recycle the course catalog for whatever reason. So, into the closet it went.

When I dug the catalog out on Monday, I felt like I was 17 again. The heavy, navy blue stock and the embossed gold crest made me giddy, and I leafed through the pages once more. What I found, though, was that I had made the right choice in coming to Hunter.

Since coming here, I've taken half a dozen advanced literature courses and four writing workshops, and I have tons more options available. I will not be bored over the next two years - Hunter's faculty and course diversity will allow me to study, in depth, any time period or genre I could imagine. The English offerings in the Franklin and Marshall catalog took up two or so pages - maybe 30 courses? Maybe? And forget about my German studies. The German department there is minuscule, and while I could have majored in German, I'd have blown through every course offered by Junior year.

So, as everyone is making their decisions over the next month, I suggest they forget names for a second and take a look at the courses that each of the schools offers. You might be shocked to find that the best education doesn't necessarily lie where you think it does.