When looking at colleges there are a lot of things to consider, such as whether or not you want to be a longhorn, a bobcat, or maybe a roadrunner. In all seriousness though, there are a lot of factors that go into where you choose to go to college and what programs you want to be involved in. It can be a very stressful process but luckily there are classes like AVID to help you with that. On Sept. 29, the junior AVID class, along with AVID teacher Mrs. Beres, went on a field trip to tour the campuses of UT Austin and Texas State. On these tours, they learned a variety of things about those respective campuses and the college experience.
“Personally, I just love seeing the campuses, so the kids have a good idea of what the feel would be like because you can think you want to go to a school but you never really know if you feel comfortable there until you actually immerse yourself in it,” Beres said.
Of course, higher education has evolved and changed in recent years and will continue to do so. One thing that is being used by college students every year is the financial aid and scholarship programs that can make paying for college tuition a little easier. These tours will give information on the different scholarship opportunities that you can apply for at your dream school.
“I personally think that it’s just really nice that they help the kids financially so much more than when I was young,” Beres said. “The information is more prevalent, about how you can get scholarships and how you can help financially.”
The students also took away a lot from this trip. Now they know about how things operate on a college campus and the different organizations you can be a part of. Students like Alexa Navarro also took particular interest in the inner workings of the application and admissions process.
“Something I learned on the tour is that most universities will look at your application as a whole and decide whether you’re a good candidate or not instead of just looking at one aspect,” Navarro said.
Not only are these tours informative, but they are also far from boring. There are all kinds of things to see and be interested in at every college campus. Navarro’s experience is more than enough proof that there’s something for everyone when viewing these schools.
“UT stuck out to me not only because of their journalism program, but because they light up their tower every time Taylor Swift releases a new album,” Navarro said.
When you imagine walking onto a college campus, it can initially seem to be a little daunting. Many think that people in college are more isolated and that they won’t continue to have the tight groups that you have in high school. However, AVID student Bre’Niya Goodspeed found quite the opposite while going on this tour.
“Both of the schools are really inclusive on a lot of subjects,” Goodspeed said. “I feel like anyone could immediately find their place in the community with how many activities and spaces there are,” Goodspeed said.
AVID has and will always continue to provide resources and amazing opportunities for students to prepare for college. While an entire day touring campuses might wear you out, it is definitely helpful and something that will always be beneficial.
“My favorite part was walking around the campus,” Goodspeed said. “I’ll admit, the walking was a little tiresome, but seeing all that UT and Texas State had to offer was worth it,” Goodspeed said.
