My University

As a high school junior, I came to the realization that choosing a university to attend would be a decision effecting the rest of my mortal life. Many universities are liberal while many are conservative. Many have a plethora of social opportunities, while others focus mainly on academics. A few have a large population of LDS students while many don’t. I knew that making this decision could mean more than I ever realized.

My junior year, like those of millions of kids all around the world, was difficult. However, I became acquainted with some amazing people that knew how to dream big. Ashton Goodell, a senior at the time, was preparing to pursue her dream to become a broadcast journalist. She was to attend the University of Missouri where she would major in Political Science and Journalism. Ashton is now a successful member of a team of anchors for KTUU News in Alaska. She taught me to seek an institution that can take me places. Another friend, Ashley Linford, was preparing to attend Utah State University, where she would be a member of a Freshman Interest Group, or FIG. These groups help freshmen assimilate to college life while getting them involved in leadership positions and activities they enjoy. Ashley showed me the importance of getting involved, no matter where I went.

My cousin Peter was attending Arizona State University, one school that is famous (or infamous) for its social life. He was a member of the prestigious honors school where he was exposed to rigorous coursework and new ideas. Another acquaintance of mine, Claire Cain, was attending New York University, where she was studying music. Friends all around me were choosing Snow College, Utah State University, University of Utah, BYU, and many other institutions.

I witnessed people all around me make the decision of where they were going to college, how they wanted to spend the duration of their careers, and how they were going to support future families, yet I was stumped. I had no idea where I would attend because I had no idea what I wanted. I faced the task of choosing a school to attend the next four-plus years of my life. I put hundreds of hours into researching universities around the nation and compiled a list: 1. New York University. 2. Columbia University. 3. Brigham Young University. 4. Utah State University. 5. Arizona State University. 6. Weber State University. That’s right. Weber State was the very last on my list of choices.

From day one, I was indoctrinated to Weber State University, the institution both of my parents had attended. My dad has been announcing games at WSU since 1976 and worked there since shortly after graduating. I attended almost every sporting event between the ages of 0 and 16. Worst of all, I hated it. I couldn’t stand the fact that everywhere I went people assumed I was going to Weber because of “who I was.”

So I started on my quest. I talked to everyone I could who attended NYU, Columbia, BYU, USU, and ASU. I visited campuses, watched online presentations, kept in contact with admissions officers, and set out choosing universities to which I’d submit applications. I’m confident my parents weren’t too excited with my list. They wanted me to attend Weber because it was close to home, we wouldn’t have to worry too much about money (since my Dad works on campus, tuition is 50% off). I didn’t listen.

One day I received an invitation from BYU to attend a Y-Weekend. These invitations are the University’s only attempt to recruit students (other that athletic purposes) because, honestly, they don’t have to recruit. I spent the weekend in a hotel right across from campus, attended classes, toured the campus, met other future-cougars, and learned what campus life would be like at the Y. The verdict? I despised my experience in Provo. The classes we visited were enormous. The tour guides were proud of the fact that their freshman English and History classes topped three hundred students. The campus was huge...huge enough that no matter how many times we traipsed across the main drag, I still got lost. Worst of all, the students were pompous. They basically believed that you couldn’t be a true Mormon if you didn’t attend BYU. BIG turn off.

After e-mailing many admissions and scholarship offices back east and realizing they wouldn’t be too willing to hold admissions, let alone scholarships, for two years while I went on a mission. I also started crunching numbers and realized how expensive $40,000 a year for tuition really is. Rule out NYU and Columbia.

With only a few schools left on my list, I had no idea where I would turn. My dad suggested I meet with Lori Drake, a past admissions officer and current head of Enrollment Services at the WSU Davis Campus. Though I was extremely hesitant to meet with her, my dad assured me she would not try to convince me to go to Weber, but would just help me with my decision.

I met with Lori one afternoon and she helped me weigh my options. We looked at money, atmosphere, majors, and every other conceivable decision maker. Ultimately, after a lot of soul searching, I went against everything I had previously believed and only applied to Weber State University.

That decision has been the best decision I’ve ever made. Because of my choice of WSU, I’ve been able to be an Admissions Ambassador (recruiting students and leading freshman orientation groups); serve on two institute committees; serve on the homecoming planning committee; be a student representative to the Shepherd Union Building Board; serve on the orientation advisory committee; present a break-out session at a regional conference of the National Orientation Directors Association in Cheyenne, Wyoming; work as the Apple Campus Rep (and even travel to their corporate headquarters for training); build relationships with not only my direct supervisors, but the university’s president, provost, associate-provost, admissions director, and numerous deans, department chairs, and academic advisors. I’ve taken an honors class with a whopping seven students, where I was able to work directly with the professor to help design an experiment with e coli and essential oils. I’ve forged strong friendships with three student body presidents. I’m known to almost every one of my professors, past or present, by my first name. I’ve been quoted in the school and community newspapers. I’ve written and designed a parent orientation guidebook to be given to each parent that attends Freshman Orientation. I’ve designed conference programs and agendas for different organizations. I’ve assisted with a U.S. presidential campaign through my associations with the WSU College Republicans. I’ve coordinated a joint effort on a Cell Phones for Soldiers Drive with the WSU Environmental Club. I led the Ambassador group as the co-president, planning retreats, trainings, and weekly staff meetings, as well as making important forward-looking decisions that affected the entire program. I’ve been a member of a team of recruiters, admissions officers and ambassadors that has increased enrollment at WSU by great numbers. I’ve made friends, gone to parties, eaten free food, and lived everything else that encompasses the college life; all while being paid to go to school by receiving and keeping two full-ride scholarships.

That’s just me: one student at a great university. Thousands of students have even greater experiences than these. Weber State University is not an institution to be snuffed at. Here are just a few facts about the school:

• The Radiology Program is rated #2 in the nation. Want to know who’s number one? Johns Hopkins University...not a very small name, is it?
• The Goddard School of Business and Economics is accredited by the AACSB - the premier accreditation board for business schools in the world. Other schools that have received the same accreditation? Harvard. Yale. Columbia. Sound familiar?
• Weber State University’s Automotive Technology program is one of FOUR in the nation.
• Weber State was the first university to send a satellite (NewSat 1) into space without the help of NASA.
• Warren Buffet hosts WSU finance majors at an annual lunch in Omaha, after they attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.
• Kimberly Waite, a WSU Sophomore, was invited to study abroad in Salzburg Austria where she was one of very few students that studied opera for the summer. She now has scholarship offers for the Cleveland School of Music, one of the most prestigious conservatories in the nation, as well as numerous others.
• WSU’s Kimball Visual Arts Building has the largest Darkroom in the State of Utah.
• WSU’s English Department hosts the nations only undergraduate literature conference.
• WSU offers an education to students who would never have otherwise received a degree.
• More WSU Students are placed into Medical and Dental Schools per capita than any other university in the State of Utah.
• WSU has state-of-the-art facilities on a beautifully landscaped campus that allows you to walk from class to class in less then ten minutes...no matter where your class is.
• The WSU Student Association has brought Boys Like Girls, One Republic, The Hush Sound, and other top-rated bands for entertainment of the student body.
• WSU Students have been accepted into every major law school in the U.S.

Weber State University, as you can see, is not an institution that should be brushed off. It gives thousands of people a world-class education every year and gives people like me experiences of a lifetime. I’ve been through all the motions that a student should in choosing a university. I realize that I am just one student, and many different schools are great for many different people, but next time you’re about to refer to Weber State University as “just Weber,” think again.