# High School Student: Any College Advice? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627 "2013-07-16T01:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627/81 "2013-07-19T21:53:28Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Who do you think companies want to hire? The guy who hated Harvard or MIT or the guy who loved Jerkwater A&M? > > Fact is you will probably find stuff to love and hate about any college you go to. Plus the point of going to college is to grow as a person. It’s tough to do that if you go to a school that’s as close as you can find to your high school. I think you are better off basing you college on objective criteria such as rankings, course of study, location, city vs suburban, size, etc. I’m guessing companies would want to hire the guy who hated Harvard or MIT, but only if he got a good GPA. I’m smart and I was a pretty good student, but I don’t know how good of grades I would have gotten if I was at a school I absolutely hated. I’m sure some people can buckle down and make it through four years of misery because they know it will be worth it in the end. But I think a lot of people would have grades that would suffer if they were miserable every day at college. I’m not saying that college should be a non-stop party, where every day is super fun. But for some place you’ll be for four years, you should at least be able to mostly tolerate it and hopefully enjoy it sometimes. > [@Dangerosa](#): > > At the same time, pick a school you can be successful at. Not everyone is successful at a big public university where your core coursework is often 600 people in an auditorium and your professor won’t bother to know your name - even if you bother him during office hours (and at a school like that, it often appears that the undergrads are indeed a bother). But not everyone is successful feeling like they got stuck in Northfield, Minnesota either. (Carleton is an awesome school, though - so is Grinnell - but you are stuck in Iowa). This is what I’m saying. Visiting a school to help you see if it’s right for you. I loved being at a big school where there were a ton of options for classes and for student activities. Some other people would hate being at such a big school, and would prefer a smaller school where it’s easier to get to know the professors and other students. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627/82 "2013-07-19T22:18:17Z")
I’d suggest you look at Florida State University and their economics program. I graduated from FSU in economics and I really enjoyed my classes there as well as the university. There is a huge FSU alumni base. I live in Chicago now, working for a major brokerage firm. My freshman year roommate and I are still friends to this day and he lives nearby working in a good job completely unrelated field to his major. Spend a few minutes on [http://www.fsu.edu](http://www.fsu.edu) and you’ll see that this is a great place for undergraduate work. The economics professors are excellent, and you’ll like the selection of classes which has gotten better since I graduated. ---
**Author:** ![Connor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Connor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Connor)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627/83 "2013-07-20T03:11:26Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’d suggest you look at Florida State University and their economics program. I graduated from FSU in economics and I really enjoyed my classes there as well as the university. > > There is a huge FSU alumni base. I live in Chicago now, working for a major brokerage firm. My freshman year roommate and I are still friends to this day and he lives nearby working in a good job completely unrelated field to his major. > > Spend a few minutes on [http://www.fsu.edu](http://www.fsu.edu) and you’ll see that this is a great place for undergraduate work. The economics professors are excellent, and you’ll like the selection of classes which has gotten better since I graduated. I’m wpplying there. I’ve visited a few times. I’ll check oubtge link. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Connor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Connor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Connor)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627/84 "2013-07-20T03:13:50Z")
I apologize for that last post. I’m on my mobile and it formats weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-student-any-college-advice/663627.md?page=4)