So, first impressions mean zilch

So, I believe in my last college related post, I said the standings, based solely on impressions, were Illinois Wesleyan in 1st, Valparaiso in 2nd, and Hope in 3rd?

HAHA! The actual visits turned these placings completely upside-down.

So, to start off, I went to Hope on Sunday. It was a fairly nice visit, my major problems with Hope being the freaky free-for-all cafeteria, the..."preppy" atmosphere, and the canned responses used in chapel (Teacher: "Peace be with you," everyone else: "and also with you.").* However, those aren't things that are impossible to get used to. In addition, their theater program looked very good. And since they offered everything I'm interested in majoring and minoring in...I'm pretty sure I wouldn't die if I went there.

We got to Valpo on Monday night and, wow, I was shocked. The people were friendly and inclusive. I didn't see that at Hope. Sure they were friendly there, but it never went beyond a "hello," or "where are you from?" At Valpo, they would ask me that, what I was interested in majoring in, and just, well, included me in conversation. Also my host, Ellen, took me to the Rack, a recreation room at Valpo, to play pool with her and three of her friends. God, I had so much fun! So many of the people there seemed extremely intelligent, but they were so relaxed, and knew how to have fun and kid around with each other.

In short, I just loved the Valpo visit, I definitely want to go there.

...I really don't want to get into Illinois Wesleyan. I guess you can say, it's a state school poorly disguised as a prestigious Lutheran college. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with state schools, but when I'm looking for a Christian school that's at least mostly conservative, you can see that what I'm interested in generally would not be overtly present at a state school.

On top of my moral and ethical issues with Wesleyan, they don't even offer a Creative Writing major. Why would I go to them, anyway, when they don't even offer what I'm looking for, and charge more than Valpo, who has exactly what I'm looking for?

On that note, Wesleyan has basically dropped off of my list all together.

With that in mind, here's where I mention that now I only have two colleges to apply to, since it appears it's really hard to find a Christian school that hasn't lost it's religious roots, which also offers Creative Writing and Theatre Majors, plus at least a minor in Japanese.

I think I'll be fine with applying to two schools. I just feel incredibly lucky that I've found a school that seems to match me so perfectly.

*I don't really like "canned responses" like that, or even congregational readings. Why? It creeps me out. To hear hundreds--or thousands--of voices, in unison, in monotone is friggin' eerie. I mean, it's so...zombie-like. And I hate to think of my beliefs as just being a mindless drone, drooling, "Jeeeeesus! Jeeeeesus!" (think, "Braaaains! Braaaaains!")