Three weeks from now, almost to the day, I will be leaving for Western Michigan University. Not too far away (a 3 hour drive), but just far enough to get the hell away from my parents who drive me absolutely crazy if I spend more than 10 minutes with them.
This has been my plan since I was 9 years old and my brother went away to WMU. He and both of my parents went to the university and I decided then that I was going to go to Western when I graduated high school and I was going to teach English at the high school level and all would be well.
As I grew up, my plan changed.
First it became "Well, I'll go to Macomb Community College for a year or so and then transfer to Western" because that's what my mother told me to do. Then I took a year off of school and just as I was about to pay for my first semester of classes, decided that my life-long dream of teaching high school English was not my dream. It was my fallback. It was what I was going to do because I knew the school districts would always need English teachers and it was something that came easy to me.
After speaking with a councilor, I took a semester of advertising classes (8 whole credits!), took another semester off and was prepared to take a full course load in the fall 2008 semester when the plan changed again.
Three weeks from now I will be leaving for Western Michigan University. Three weeks ago, this was not the plan. Within the past three weeks I have applied, been accepted, registered for a few classes (I can't finish that until next week at Freshman orientation), bought two shirts and took a tour of the campus, all in that order, three of which were done on the same day.
Stick to your original plan! I know it's not easy and you think you're going to be able to hold a job and save all the money in the world and you won't need student loans to go to your university of choice, but you can only go to school full time and work so much. Community college sounds like a good idea when you hear that you'll save a few thousand dollars, but it's not for everyone! I can tell you now that it's not for me!
I can't speak for every community college or every university, but I know that the employees at Western are infinitely kinder than those at MCC and OCC. Western's staff are kind, helpful and intelligent! MCC's staff communicates with a series of grunts and points, except, of course, for those one or two that are actually looking to help.
Don't worry about where you're going to get the money for those loans right now. You don't know where you're going to be in four years. You know know if you're going to be a bum living on the street or a 6 figure CEO in a corner office. Just because life is uncertain doesn't mean you should put off your schooling. It will only get you into trouble.
Apply at least 6 months before the start of school. I still haven't gotten my acceptance letter. You know, the one with all of the information? Yeah, it's in the mail right now. The only way I knew I was accepted is because when I went to visit the school, I left 4 hours early and talked to a councilor, who pushed my paperwork through to make sure I was accepted. I still don't have any of my paperwork, so I can't exactly apply for the dorm I want or a parking pass (registration for which started today) and I can't register for classes yet without my ID.
There's your tips for today. More to come when I screw up some more.
Things I'm excited about:
Taking the Amtrak to Chicago
Living in a dorm
The Bronco bus system
Getting the hell away from the rents
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