How to (start to) Build a College List
During my Junior year of high school, my father gifted me a 800 page book listing nearly every college in the United States. Sitting before this enormous book, which was nearly too large for me to carry, I felt incredibly overwhelmed. The large majority of colleges listed in this book I had never heard of and as I flipped through page after page, the paragraphs highlighting “vibrant student life” and “strong career mentorship” began to blur together. Each school felt exciting for one reason or another—this was college! How could I not feel excited and privileged to be considering this incredible experience? As excited as I was, this was an important decision:, one which required me to take a step back to consider what I truly valued.
To begin to tackle this massive book, or what is most likely now an endless online list of colleges, it was helpful to consider schools by category. The natural starting step for me was geography. As someone who grew up in the suburbs on the East Coast and wanted to stay close to family, it made the most sense to begin my search in New England. I began building my own list of schools located in a big city, since I also wanted to explore a different environment in college. As my college search progressed, I also visited each college to see if the environment was a place I would be excited to live for four years.
Beyond location, I also needed to consider general aspects of the school itself, such as the size of the class. Given my experience attending a very small high school with only 100 per class, I was more than ready to be in a bigger pond. I wanted to meet students from all over the world, engage with incredible faculty from every discipline, and have every club or class under the sun available to me. This preference for a larger school drew me to the University of Pennsylvania. However as a student there, I was surprised to discover how much effort was required to form relationships with my teachers, with whom I was so familiar in high school—to the point that I considered many of them to be friends.Instead of mentoring sessions being built into my schedule, I had to seek them out. Similarly, many opportunities and even clubs were competitive given the sheer number of interested students. I didn’t realize how much I would miss having mentors who knew me deeply, who would advocate for me and suggest courses which catered to my interests, until I arrived in such an environment. My main takeaway is this: these relationships and opportunities are available to you in a large school, you may just need more self-motivation to attain them.
One of the main reasons I chose the University of Pennsylvania, aside from its size and geography, was the opportunity it provided for higher education. I knew I had an interest in medicine and hoped to attend a school with an excellent pre-medical program, as well as an associated medical school, to set myself up for success. Associated medical schools often provide the benefit of shadowing and research opportunities, which can be incredible experiences for those with an interest in healthcare. I recall the excitement of running an MRI test for a neuroscience research project I became involved in, watching in awe as images of participant’s brains popped up on the screen before me. These experiences largely contributed to my decision to pursue a career in medicine and helped improve the quality of my application. However, for those hoping to apply to graduate schools, it is important to consider the requirement for letters of recommendation and to begin forming connections with potential writers sooner rather than later. Finding a professor who knew me well was a challenge given the 100-200 person class sizes of most pre-medical classes—a challenge that I had not faced during my time in high school. Although these difficulties were manageable, I found myself wishing I had known about them sooner and put more effort into maintaining relationships with teachers.
Adapting to a larger environment pushed me to become a better advocate for myself and to take initiative when finding mentors. While I may not have faced these challenges at a different school, these experiences pushed me to become a better advocate for myself and overcome difficulties on my own. The most (hopefully) reassuring piece of advice that I can provide is that there are probably many “perfect” schools out there for you, places where you will meet lifelong friends, experience immense personal growth, and discover a great deal about the world around you. Lean on your mentors, family, and friends throughout this process when you are feeling lost, and take a break when that 800 page college book feels like it would be better off as fire kindling.
Hana Flaxman, MD. — graduate of University of Pennsylvania and currently studying medicine at Cornell.
