Mville

Not all that long ago I received the bill for next year's tuition at Manhattanville. It's not exactly cheap, each year costs 46K. But luckily I have some scholarships that reduce it to 30K, nonetheless, that's still a lot. It's ridiculous that they charge that much, but they do get it. I mean the college is great but I don't think it's worth that excessive price.

In my senior year of high school when I was applying to colleges Mville wasn't very high on my list, the school I really wanted to go to was Marist. But due to unfortunate circumstances I wasn't accepted so I started to look at the other ones which I did get into. I believe I was accepted to 5, and I visited almost every one. The final one I looked at was Mville; as soon as I got onto the campus I was sold. The college had absolutely beautiful grounds and for me it was just the right size. Out of all the colleges I had seen, this was by far the smallest. I didn't want to attend a large school, in my opinion they're too impersonal. Most of my classes this year were the same size as the ones I had in high school. You won't find any with 100+ students.

I'm planning on majoring in Environmental Studies, it interests me and I'm almost assured to find a job quickly. So called "green jobs" are in high demand now and will most likely continue to increase. Within the past couple of years the college built an environmental park/classroom, this means I'll be able to get some hands on experience. This was a major reason I looked into the college in the first place, considering most degrees given out are in the liberal arts area. I only know a couple of people who want to major in Env. Studies. Others who are interested in science tend to go for biology, but that doesn't appeal to me as much. I'm not sure yet if I will minor in anything, but if I do it will be in history- American history. I wouldn't want to major in it for the simple reason of not wanting to teach. There's not much besides teaching that you can do with it. I also don't understand why people actually want to major in something that they can't do anything with, in my opinion it's a waste of both time and money. A couple obscure degrees that Mville has is Irish and Holocaust studies, I mean they may be interesting, but really what can you do with them? You spend 46K a year and by the time graduation comes good luck with finding a decent job. If you're going to take the initiative of going to college think of the future!

Mville has a lot of history attached with it. The college itself is over a 100 years old and it is on an estate once owned by a news paper tycoon and ambassador to England. The main building called the Castle or Reid Hall is a huge gothic mansion that literally appers to be a medieval castle, it's absolutely stunning. It's hard to believe it was actually someone's house. And supposedly it's haunted.... who knows. In the past presidents have visited; other notable visitors include the Kennedy's, senators, movie stars, Hillary Clinton, and just last week Sarah Palin stopped by for an event. Also, a few movies and T.V. shows have been filmed on the campus, I don't know them off the top of my head but you can look them up online. If the grounds don't impress you (which they definitely will) the people who come to it will make for an out of the ordinary discussion.

At this point I'm not completely sure what of what I want to do in 3 years, but a good possiblity is working for the DEC. Next year there are 2 internships that I'm going to apply for, and they both deal with conservation and research. Luckily, they're located in the Hudson Valley, so if I get one I'll be in familiar territory. Currently I have 43 credits. This is 13 above the average, due in part to AP classes and a little extra work each semester. This gives me a few benefits, I get to register for classes earlier, I can possibly graduate a semester early (which I probably won't end up doing), and it makes my schedule more flexible. Enough said on this topic, but I'm happy with Mville, I highly recommend it.