List of Universities

I envy people who have parents who take an active role in their education. My parents did no such thing. It is not that they didn't want me to go ahead and attend college. They wanted nothing more, in fact. In my family, you see, college was viewed as the most important step in your life. Without a university education in a high ranking college, you have no hope of success – or so my mother told me. Nevertheless, my parents viewed picking out your own school as one of my first adult responsibilities.  I was left to my own devices to contemplate the list of universities and choose the perfect one for me.

For many people, looking through a list of US universities is no big deal. They know more or less what they want out of school. They know what region of the country they want to be in, what size school that want to attend, what academic focus they want from the college, and other relevant details. I knew nothing. All I had was a gigantic list of universities displaying literally thousands of schools. Although I narrowed it down to some of the top ranking universities, it still left hundreds of choices. I knew that my parents would support me if I decided to go to a private college, but I honestly didn't really understand the difference between a private university and a public one.

In my ignorance, I even looked at lists of online universities, thinking that perhaps the convenience would sway me in their favor. When one of my friends explained that they are not nearly as prestigious as going to an actual campus, I gave up. Still, I couldn't really narrow the list of universities down. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I didn't really make my own choice.

As a matter of fact, my girlfriend at the time made the choice for me. Her mother had been helping her get through a list of universities as well, but for them it was simply a matter of coming up with a backup school. They both knew that they wanted to go to the University of Michigan. When I asked her why, she explained. Although there were better schools on the list of universities, for people like us who grew up in Michigan, it just made sense. It was a great school, it was a state school which meant that tuition was lower, and it would give me the opportunity to pursue any field that I desired to study.