big red envelope… check!
Post by John Taylor
YES! I got the Big Red Envelope. Now I have another school that I can choose to attend, as it adds on to the pile of other acceptance letters. Situation sound familiar? Three years ago I went through the same process that you are going through today. I had been accepted to a number of schools, many other schools still wanted me to apply and give them my application fee, and it was closing down on crunch time for my second trimester of my senior year of high school. Yes, I meant to say trimester, my high school was set on this schedule so they could squeeze as much juice out of us as possible in our final two years before adulthood, and we all loved it.
Had to include this picture!
So I was just like you, I had to make the decision of where I wanted to spend at least the next four years of my life. This was a huge decision. So how do I make it? First things first, if you have a boy or girlfriend, do not use them as a decision. I know Sally is the prettiest girl in the world, and she means everything, but in six months you have to opportunity to meet 30,000 new people. So maybe your significant other and you will make things work and it is meant to be, but look at statistics, and break up with her. I have friends that made decisions based on their partner and now regret that decision every day. Do not let this happen to you. (To be fair I have a very small number of friends who stayed with their SO and are still happy, but I can count that number on my left hand).
Me, Max, and Ricky, pre-graduation. Rick and I go to State, Max is at a rival ACC school
Perhaps you are like most high school seniors; money will influence your decision of where you want to attend school. Now is the time to apply for literally every scholarship you can find. Check out our Scholarships and Financial Aid website for information on scholarships available to you. The more money you have to play with, the easier your college decision will be. My decision came down to two schools, North Carolina State and a rival ACC school. I had a lot of money to attend one school, literally tuition covered. The other school I would be an out of state student for at least the first year of attending. So I’ll give you one guess where I went to school. Even with this money, it was still a hard decision for me where to go to school. My best friend Max was in a very similar situation to mine, so similar in fact that he had the same scholarship to State, and was deciding between the same two schools. He decided to attend the other school and has done really well there. So your decision will work either way, but if you know your heart belongs in Raleigh, you better listen to your heart!
Ricky, myself and Max in Berlin, Germany during our senior year
I will assume that the other blogs on this website will tell you why Raleigh and NC State is the best place to be, so I won’t pound more of that into your head, instead I will move on to housing. After choosing to attend State, the next decision was which dorm I wanted to live in and with who. I had a roommate my senior year of high school, but I chose not to live with him my freshman year of college, instead I asked my friend AJ if he would want to be my roommate. After I received his confirmation we had to decide together which dorm suited us best. We wanted to live in a suite style since in high school we both lived in hall style and also because we wanted to avoid as many of our co-graduates as we could. So we chose Wood Hall. In Wood we would have a decent room, beautiful scenery, and the opportunity to make close friends within the suite. We filled out this application early so that we could have first choice of housing and wouldn’t end up in a situation that we would not like. Then finally I paid my $200 deposit fee! Remember, you can apply for housing as soon as you are admitted and still don’t have to confirm until May 1st.
Seniors on my Hall in 2010
Next up was acquiring NC State Swag. This is an easy task to complete, as you will get lots of free shirts when you get here, but some of the best shirts you have to pay for in the bookstore or at the Go Pack store. Then followed signing up for New Student Orientation. The summer before school started I was presented the opportunity to take a class early and jump start my college career, so that is exactly what I did. Then school started in August!
AJ, my roommate freshman year and our friend Sean (his school lost Saturday!)
