Thinking Project
Hayden Anderson
My Prototype of College
It's actually really interesting to see how everyone reacts to the very word "college", to some they see freedom and a chance to become one with themselves and to others including myself they see college as an endpoint. That is an endpoint to childhood. With myself, as time draws closer and closer to senior year the image or even the word college makes me dreadfully nervous.In my mind college is a scary place filled with stress, angst, and a lot of sleep deprivation. it's weird everyone who I talk, to who's in college say how wonderful and how life changing it is, but I can't get over the fact that college marks the end of my adolescence and taps the beginning of the new era.... Adulthood.
Algorithms
Whenever we really begin to think about college one think always comes to mind... Where do you start? In my case it was to have a list of colleges I would like to attend first. Once I had my list(and applied to them as well) I then proceeded to applying for scholarships considering college costs an arm and a leg. After getting through the long process of scholarships then comes the grants(which are easier to apply for). In the final stage after all the elbow grease is put at ease comes the long precarious wait. Then the end after the scholarships clear along with the grants, I'll choose which college to attend.
Trial and Error
Going back to applying to every scholarship out there. This process is a very boring and tedious process. When it comes to scholarships, I have to apply, write an essay that will hopefully in the end please the donor and let me in on the scholarship. The only thing is there are no guarantees. On most(mainly about 83%) scholarships they tell you the requires fist before applying however there are others(the other 17%) who like to tell you at the very end of the process what they actually require... after a time consuming day of filling in every question. So basically I have to apply to practically everything(to which I meet the requirements) to hopefully get me a fully ride somewhere, so far it's been a waste of time(not really it's just pretty stressful).
Heuristics
It's safe to presume that most of the students who attend NHS are in the middle class. So it would be easy to say we all want the same thing a great job , but what comes before the dream job? College. Whenever you ask a high school student what they want to do after high school they(though some choose immediate career) say college. They will say college without even thinking about it, without thinking about everything that comes with college; the sleepless nights, the long lectures, or even the high levels of stress, all to which a college student will encounter while attending any university.
Insight
When we think about our majors in college we often wonder, what will make me happy? What can I do for the rest of my life? For a very, very long time those two questions followed me around like a stray dog for years. Now one year I thought I found it but four years later it dawned on me it wasn't the right thing for me( it was a Biology Teacher). So then i was stuck again but once again many choices ran through my brain haywire for a while(Chief, Actor, Music Producer, Aeronautics). However those were soon put to rest once the light finally turned on. After a dead rat, a live crime scene I knew what I wanted to major in. Forensic Pathology, tis was the winning spark which keeps the lights and a the flow moving.
Confirmation Bias
Many guys out of my generation are big time "gamers" now I feel as if I sort of fall under this category however I don't play video games... I play board games. One of my up time favorite is Clue which is funny because I want to pursue a job as a Forensic Pathologist( finding out how a person was murdered).Every time I play this game I win, which makes me believe I really will be able to do this job(even though I need to know the science). Basically every time I play Clue I expect to win because I need that reassurance that I will be able to do it when I achieve my goal of becoming a Forensic Pathologist.
Fixation/Mental Set
I like to do things fast. now not because i'll run out of time but because doing things fast for some reason helps me do it efficiently. Now it's odd because when I do things quickly(not rushing, but not on beat) the outcome is pretty good. In the past when I went slower on things as anyone would I fell behind and my grades reflected that, but when I started to really speed up my pace I saw significant results which cause my self to think this works. However while dealing with college stuff their process is long and really takes what has worked for me in the past and goes against it.
Intuition
Again, focusing on my major. Many people whom I tell my major to give me a look... a look of disgust and when I say how much school is involved they give me another look like i'm crazy for wanting to do what I am going to do. However despite what they say I don't like to listen because my gut tells me that I should do this, and as stated before my gut usually doesn't lie to me. So in long run it would be wise to use my intuition... not everywhere but just to help guide myself on the inside, because this could come in handy during college(or maybe some gold old fashioned studying).
Representative Heuristic
In my prototype of college I said that college was full of stress and I feel as though that all it will be for eight years stress and more stress. Again when I talk to some people they say how fun college is, they say it's kinda of a challenge but then again their major is something like Theatre production. Despite what people tell my I've already burnt the image of my pulling out my hair to turn my paper in on time and no matter what they say it won't persuade me other wise to believe something different with college.
Availability Heuristic
Before I stated how i like to do things quickly but college stuff takes a little while to do. Well doing this for a few months now has actually gotten me in the groove of do so(with college related items). Now every time i encounter college stuff like the continuous letter from colleges inviting me to visit their campus or scholarship opportunities or even the applications themselves, I now actually take my time because one yes it calls for it and two the work ethic of mine has actually flipped meaning the output when slowed down (again with college stuff) because great where as me going pretty fast on the items my output is weak and inconsistent.
Overconfidence
In American alone about 60% of college drop outs, leave because of one simple matter... they don't get help. In my generation in regards to college we want the help, but there are also quite a few who want to do it independently. I find it strange that they really feel that they can take such a hard task alone and it's primarily because they are simply overconfident. They believe that they're able to conjure up the strength to hold their university in the palm of their hand and well, personally I don't think it'll get them very far because simply judging something strong as college based on their own belief that they can take it, is a weak move because when people become to presumptuous they start to fall and when they fall too hard well...no college.
Belief Perseverance
In one's high school career do you know the most important year? It's junior year, one's third year is the time to really begin to think about their future but in perspective of college transcripts are pulled from junior year. There are a bunch of kids in my graduating class who are blowing this year off like it's nothing and though it's not my future it really stresses me to the core. it's funny because they say how easy this year is, how they don't need to worry, but they are failing. These kids still believe it's a blow off year despite them knowing colleges look at their transcripts and their GPA is in the high twos. It's quite astonishing that they truly believe its all going to be OK for them when they get to college if they don't take the seriousness of the situation and make something of it.
Compensations When Choosing a School
When selecting the schools I want to attend, i feel as if I do compensate. That is because I want my parents approval, but what kid doesn't want that. When picking my schools my parents kept on telling me in state and non-prestigious. Though it may sound as if they're saying i'm not good enough it not, basically what they keep on explaining o me is is what they hope for me is that i will never have to file for student loans. I've sort of taken in consideration to what they have said but not to the fully extent at the top of my list is Arizona State, but it's not too expensive it's just out of state. Now a person with my dream major would want to go to a place like Harvard or Yale but I feel(I know it is a little harsh on my end) as if i am not adequate enough only because they are so many people out there who chase harder than I do and I want to achieve my goals without selling my spleen to do so.