Peter Hutchens was a lot like many other high school students conducting a college search. After taking a standardized test his sophomore year, he started wondering what college life would be like. He'd flip through those colorful brochures that began flooding his mailbox. And, like others, Peter went to his family and God for advice and direction. But Peter, currently a sophomore at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, faced an additional obstacle: He was thousands of watery miles away from every college he was considering. Because of his father's job, Peter had to conduct most of the search from his home in the Philippines. Nearly every part of his search, from beginning to end, had to be done long-distance—which made college fairs, frequent campus visits, on-site scholarship competitions and multiple phone calls to admission counselors impossible.
"The fact that I was so far away did make me feel a little more isolated. I had to lean not so much on my own understanding, but on God in directing me," he says. "When my friends in the States were visiting a bunch of different schools, it was harder for me be cause I had to trust more and plan ahead for those kinds of opportunities."
Even if you're in the same country as the colleges you're considering, searching can be difficult. Just ask Tara Miner, a senior at Evangel College in Spring field, Missouri. Although she'd heard about various colleges at church conventions and seen Christian college ads in Campus Life, Tara wrestled long and hard with God's will in regard to college. Upon high school graduation, she still didn't have any clear direction. So she decided to postpone the decision for a year.
"During the months after high school, I learned more about myself and about what I wanted to do," she says. "As I did my search, I learned a lot, like how to be more independent. God taught me to wait and that everything would click in his time."
The decision turned out to be an easier one for Aaron Shaul and Kimberly Grinols. In fact, Aaron undertook the early stages of his search without even realizing it.
Step 1: Start Early
During his high school years, Aaron, a junior at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska, attended leadership conferences and other extracurricular functions at various colleges. So by the end of his senior year, he'd racked up unofficial visits to about 10 schools. This in formal start made the rest of the search process much easier.
"You can get a feel for the school's atmosphere by visiting," he said. "It came down to the broad choices of a state university or studying at a Christian college. That was kind of the dividing line. I saw the value and importance of education at a Christian school."
Kimberly Grinols, a sophomore at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, had a fairly good idea of what college life was like, even before she began her search. The daughter of a professor and a resident of a college town, Kimberly had always been comfortable in a collegiate setting. But that didn't stop her from beginning her search early—as a sophomore. She researched schools through college guidebooks, Web sites and other resources.
"I didn't want to sit down with books and read," she says. "I wanted to go out with my friends and be a high schooler." But as Kimberly began to compare school listings, she realized she was learning a lot from her research—and liking it, too.
"I really liked sitting down and reading the pro files of the colleges," she says. "I read a lot of different profiles, just to get a feel for what's available. Start early, start early, start early, because then you have time for mistakes. The time you spend researching will be worth it."
Step 2: Slash the List
Glossy pamphlets with colorful photographs of beaming students and gorgeous tree-lined campuses can make any school appear enticing. That's certainly what Peter discovered.
"When I would look over the brochures," he says, "they all looked so attractive to me because I was missing the States."
Whether or not you're homesick for the United States, narrowing your college choices from a heaping mound of mail to a "top five" list (or even a "top 10") can be tough. Kimberly decided to tackle that mound of choices by hitting the road. She began visiting schools during family vacations as a sophomore and continued visiting colleges into her senior year, paying particular attention to each school's atmosphere. Even the so-called "minor details."
"The best advice a friend of mine gave was to listen to the music and look at the clothes," she says. "As superficial as that sounds, it really tells about the students who attend that particular school. Those are the things that profile books and Web sites don't really talk about."
Visiting campuses was so important to Peter that he flew back to the United States the summer between his junior and senior years for a whirlwind campus tour with friends.
"As I was looking at the different schools, I tried mentally picturing myself as a student at them," he says. "Staying in the dorms really got me excited ab out college life. When you're in that environment, the school will speak for itself."
Matthew Berryessa-Larin, a junior at Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon, is also a big believer in campus visits—so much so, in fact, that by the time he moved to campus, he was already pretty acquainted with one key facet of college: the dorm. To narrow his college choices, Matthew spent two nights—when school was in session—in a residence hall at each of his top three schools. What he learned during those visits helped him shorten his list.
"I learned what quality of students went to the colleges I was looking at—the focus of the students, the maturity of the students," he says. "I didn't ask for any special treatment. I was just there to observe. The way people related to each other really gave me a feel for the campus."
Step 3: Apply Yourself!
So you've narrowed your college choices to a reasonable number and are staring down a stack of blank applications. Now what?
Peter suggests getting to work—pronto. Applying to college early—in fall of his senior year—alleviated unnecessary stress and provided a sense of security, especially when he received his acceptance letter way before his class mates received theirs.
"As everyone else was scrambling around, I already knew I'd been accepted," he says. "That didn't negatively impact my schoolwork. It gave me a little bit more confidence."
Kimberly gained something else from the application process: a new view of herself. Compiling lists of her awards and extracurricular activities and carefully considering the application essays prompted thoughtful self-reflection on her skills, abilities and gifts.
"I really liked the application process because it made me evaluate myself," she says. "It really helped me know who I am."
Matthew agrees. The essay questions especially can spur a good deal of self-reflection. Not a self-promoter by nature, Matthew struggled to mesh his modest personality with essay requirements.
"I don't like to talk about myself," he says. "I also had to come to terms that I wasn't bragging on myself."
Whether or not you like to toot your own horn, the essay is often the most difficult part of the application process. To make essay writing a little easier, Peter offers this advice: "Take time to think about it and pray about what you want to write. And then, over a few days, just write down all the things that come to mind on the topic. It's important to give yourself enough time to write down ideas and to run it by other people."
Step 4: Check Your Mail
The day Kimberly's acceptance letter arrived in the mail was also her sister's birthday. Kimberly didn't want to hog the spotlight, so she told only her sister and kept the news from her parents—until the birthday girl spoke up at dinner.
"We had just said grace," Kimberly says. "There was cake on the table, and the presents were at one end. My parents were so disappointed in me for not telling them earlier."
Matthew, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get the news, much less share it. Throughout the entire application process, excitement often got the best of him.
"I delivered the application to the school myself," he says. "I was pretty much a pest. I called the school a lot after I'd turned it in. But when it came down to the final things, especially with financial aid, I learned just to be still and rest in God—to trust him to take care of me."
While receiving the acceptance letter was a relief for Kimberly, it didn't end the process for her.
"There were several schools that kept sending me stuff, so I called and told them I wasn't going there," she says. "Doing this gave me a good sense of closure."
Matthew, too, believed it was important to call the schools he was no longer considering.
"In hindsight, I'm really glad I did, because I know it helped clean up their list of potential students," he says. "I knew they wouldn't take it personally. It was important for me to follow through with what I started."
Step 5: Trust God
These students learned lessons from their college searches that have significantly impacted their college years—and their lives.
Peter says as a result of his college search, his spiritual journey has taken new directions.
"It's been a big exercise in faith for me," he says. "There have been so many ways God has reminded me of his faithfulness and that I'm in the place where he wants me to be. Relationships with professors, friendships, the way he's provided financially—God has nudged me and gently let me know that I'm in the right place and that the decision wasn't a fluke."
"God's plans are much higher than ours," Aaron says. "I knew there was something going on that was right. I knew God was doing something."
And Tara says she continues to be amazed by God's provision during her college search and in the years that have followed.
"I just prayed about it, and when I visited the school I'm now attending, everything just clicked and fell into place," she says. "I just had to wait on God's timing."
Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Campus Life. |
Printer view
