College Touring

   In a little over a year, I'm going to be a college student.
   Deep breath.
   WOW.  College.  Big step.  Big big big-big step.  Monday I visited the University of Oregon, today (Tuesday) I visited Oregon State University.  I've also visited the campuses of the University of Portland, Lewis and Clark, and (to a lesser extent) Portland State University.  Looking for somewhere to live four years of your life, setting yourself up for your entire career.
   No pressure.
   To make the decision even harder, most of the campuses seem VERY similar.  They all boast a few really large, extravagant buildings, along with a lot of simpler buildings.  They all seem to be so large and yet the organization is so confusing.  And finally, the layouts can be (at times and in places) so similar to each other, that I can look down one street at the University of Oregon, and think, "Wait, I thought I was at the University of Oregon, not the University of Portland!"
   And then you go to talk to representatives from each of the colleges, and listen to what they have to say about the University as a whole, and it's the SAME THING!!!!!!!!  Seriously, every single university in the state of Oregon, as far as I've been told, is dedicated to being green, encouraging acceptance, and has tons of fun activities for everyone.  Applying to college is the same, and the requirements to get into most of the colleges I've visited are about the same.
   So clearly, there has to be something to set these schools apart.  Surely.  They can't just be carbon copies of each other, can they?
   Well, you have to take a close look at the information you get from the schools, but sure enough, differences start to appear.  Turns out, the University of Oregon has no engineering program, and Oregon State University has no journalism major.  This is mostly politic-driven.  The two colleges I've visited most recently (and most in-depth) happen to be part of a government-controlled system.  So while each one is independent, they are both controlled by the same over-seeing powers.  The idea is that no one school in the system should compete with another school in the system.
   For this reason, the two schools have slightly different focuses.  The University of Oregon (or as it is often called, U of O) has a more humanities base, and Oregon State University (called OSU) has a much more scientific base.
   So how do I make my decision?  I'll be honest, I've had no idea what exactly I've wanted to study.  But for a while I think I've known that it would probably be more of the humanities than science.  So keeping that in mind, I think (right now) that the top of my list is getting comfy with the U of O.
   Which almost sucks.
   See, these two schools (U of O and OSU) are bitter rivals, and my younger brother, for reasons unknown to me, is an avid fan of OSU.  And I'm looking at U of O.  He even said himself, "if you go to U of O, I don't know you."  Of course,  he's only joking.

   A little.