Prep Day 2013 Student Spotlight – Derik Beckett

PA College Tour

     As the end of junior year soon approaches and I have limited time left here at Prep, I realize I must make some steps in choosing what kind of institution I would like to attend next. This is why for Prep Day 2013 I chose to go visit colleges. When I saw Mrs. Morissette's trip to visit colleges in Pennsylvania, I knew I was interested because going to school in PA was at the top of my list. Our journey to PA, led us to three schools. These schools were the University of Scranton, Lehigh University, and Muhlenberg College.

      The first school we visited was University of Scranton and this was my favorite school of the visits. The University of Scranton is a not too large, Catholic-Jesuit co-educational school located in Scranton, PA. This university is about two hours away from Prep and there isn't a dramatic change in the weather there. When we arrived on campus, I noticed it was well put together and comfortable. After touring the campus, my original feelings were reassured. The campus gave me a feeling of security, a feeling of welcomeness, and a feeling that made me see this campus as some place I'd be willing to go. There were a few things that really drew me to the school. The first being there well put together study abroad program. The second being the fact that both majors I aminterested in are offered there. And finally the fact that this is a Catholic-Jesuit school. This means that they offer a lot of what is offered at Prep in terms of campus ministries.

      The next school we visited was Lehigh University located in Bethlehem,  PA. This wasn't my first visit to Lehigh but I did learn a lot from this visit. This was mostly because when I first visited and went for a tour, the campus was nearly empty. In this visit to Lehigh, I learned this is not at all what I am looking for. Don't get me wrong Lehigh is another great school but just not for everyone as I didn't receive the same inviting feeling I received at Scranton. Lehigh is a really nice campus, however, it's on a mountain side so there are steep inclines. By the time we finished our tour of the campus, my legs felt as though they went on a whole other journey like up and down the sides of Mt. Everest.  

       The final school we took a tour of was Muhlenberg College. Muhlenberg was the smallest campus of our visits with only about 2,500 students in attendance. Muhlenberg was another school with a nice campus. Here I felt the almost the same comfort I felt at Scranton. Muhlenberg is a Lutheran college that is very into liberal arts. What I gathered from my visit here was that this school is probably for those who are very into theater and dancing. Similar to Lehigh, Muhlenberg is surrounded by a town but just smaller.

       All in all, Prep Day 2013 was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. The point Mrs. Morissette was trying to get across was that colleges may seem similar on paper but are very different once you are physically there. I found this to be very true as most of my preconceptions for the schools were wrong. I found Prep Day 2013 with Mrs. Morissette, not only to be a learning experience, but to help you find out what you are really interested in when looking for the right college.   

 

Thanks to Derik for his participation in Prep Day 2013 and his blog!

Mrs. Sarah Morissette, M. Ed.