1070
Making the choice
EMILY
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Glenwood Springs, CO
Year: Junior
I couldn’t have chosen a better college to attend and every day I am extremely thankful that I chose Fort Lewis. I attended high school in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and I knew that it would be very hard for me to leave Glenwood because it is such a beautiful, small mountain town with many outdoor activities available all year round.
As high school was coming to an end, I knew that I would not be able to go to an out of state college. I wanted to go to a school where I could easily go skiing without driving a long way to the mountain. So these decisions helped narrow my choices down. I decided to visit some schools around Colorado because I also knew that seeing the campus would help me decide which college would be best for me. After I went through the application process, I planned out a few weekends to visit colleges and take tours of the campuses. My dad drove me to Fort Collins one weekend to tour Colorado State University. Even though I was only on that campus for about two hours, I already felt lost and I knew it would be too big for me. There were so many people and so many buildings. I just couldn’t see myself doing well at a large school like this because I felt as if I would be lost in the crowd. I was happy that I had this experience because it made me realize that I was not ready to go to such a large school and I think this was because I came from such a small school and town.
The next weekend my dad and I drove down to Durango, Colorado to tour Fort Lewis. Coming in to Durango reminded me so much of my own small home town and already I was way more comfortable here than I had felt in Fort Collins. We took a tour of Fort Lewis and I just loved it. I did not feel lost and I had already seen some faces I had recognized from restaurants or stores in town which we had been at earlier. The campus seemed big at first but after I walked around with a tour guide, I realized that it was the perfect size; not too big and not too small. The tour guide was very friendly and gave me all the information I would need to know about coming to school here as a freshman.
Visiting the campus really helped me to decide which college would be best for me and I highly suggest taking a campus tour to any new freshmen. I know that if I had chosen to go to Colorado State University or any other big school, I wouldn’t have gotten that far without falling behind. Fort Lewis is the perfect size with me and I couldn’t be happier with my choice of college.