Identify Your Passion: Golf, Sushi, Toy Making

Students planning their college years are in a unique position to make their dreams come true.  By identifying what is most important to them, they can easily narrow down their college search and then live the dream – at least for their college years!

If the passion is for golf, colleges and universities with highly rated courses include Yale, Ohio State, University of Georgia and Notre Dame. If the dream is all about skiing, opportunities are plentiful for students at Dartmouth, University of Vermont, and University of Colorado at Boulder.

Students with a passion for the arts would be enthralled by options at Oberlin. At this Ohio college, students can rent (at a cost of $5) famous works of art to adorn their dorm rooms. Choices include paintings by Pablo Picasso and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.  If music is a passion, students have access to 230 Steinway grand pianos – including one in every residence hall. 

If it’s all about food, students once again have a wide variety of options.  James Madison University hosts many of the most popular fast food chains, including Chick-Fila, Qdoba, Steak ‘n Shake and Starbucks. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the largest collegiate dining service program in the U.S., reportedly creates 4,000 sushi rolls each day.  Food trucks abound at several Philadelphia institutions: Drexel, La Salle, Temple, and University of Pennsylvania. If the preference is fine dining, High Point University boasts of its “1924 Prime Steakhouse” where students can enjoy a weekly five-course meal in an upscale restaurant setting.  

Students who never learned to do laundry may opt for Rice University. There they are given a laundry bag and encouraged to fill it with their dirty clothes, then drop it off for everything to be washed, dried and folded.  Students can follow the status of their laundry through an app!

If it’s all about the academics, students should consult College Board’s “Book of Majors.” Hundreds of college majors are listed alphabetically, each followed by a list of the colleges that offer a degree in the field.  Students interested in Entrepreneurial Studies, for example, would find programs at Babson College and Northeastern University in Massachusetts.  Those with a passion for Animal Behavior might consider Franklin & Marshall College and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.  Students seeking a career in Toy Design would identify Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, as good fit schools.  Historic Preservation is listed as a major at University of Mary Washington in Virginia, and Medical & Biological Illustration is listed at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. 

Once students identify exactly what is important to them, a bit of research will provide a list of best-fit schools.

Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart. For the past 25 years, SAT Smart’s Ivy League educated tutors have prepared students for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, AP courses, and all high school subjects. Visit www.SATsmart.com or call 908-369-5362.