{"id":4176,"date":"2019-03-04T11:01:23","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T16:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2019-03-04T11:01:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T16:01:23","slug":"third-times-the-charm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/2019\/03\/third-times-the-charm\/","title":{"rendered":"Third time\u2019s the charm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/03\/third-time.....jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4178\" title=\"third time....\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/03\/third-time....-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"third time....\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/03\/third-time....-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/03\/third-time.....jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I graduated high school in 2016. It&#8217;s now 2019 and I have attended three colleges so far. I have been stacking on student ID\u2019s like they are trading cards at this point, trying to \u201ccollect \u2018em all\u201d as they say. But the real reason is I was trying to find the perfect institution that better fits my needs.<\/p>\n<p>My first semester of college after high school I started at NYIT in the city, a semester later I transferred to CUNY at City Tech. And after three semesters of that I transferred to SUNY, Farmingdale State College, where I\u2019m currently enrolled. So why the many transfers?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m just trying to find the perfect match.\u00a0 I left NYIT after knowing what a private institution really meant, but the damage was already done by then, financially speaking.\u00a0 A whopping $20,000 a semester!\u00a0 I knew college was expensive, but didn&#8217;t really compare it to CUNY\/SUNY prices. An average $6,500 a year, now that&#8217;s a big difference.\u00a0 Funny thing is that all these institutions I&#8217;ve attended are pretty much the same, other than the name.\u00a0 I\u2019m studying Graphic Design, and the programs in each school are a little different but pretty much the same gist.<\/p>\n<p>Advice to those getting ready to apply to: really take your time because I didn&#8217;t. I applied to a college I really wanted to go to by name, but it hurt me big time and because I didn&#8217;t think of the financial consequences. Really do your research and see what&#8217;s the best for your needs. Some criteria to look at is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1. Affordability: can you pay for it? Scholarships, financial aid is a big one. Apply for scholarships small or big &#8211; just apply. Every bit helps.<\/li>\n<li>2. The program: compare programs of different schools, and what they offer.<\/li>\n<li>3. Atmosphere: a big thing for me personally. Being a designer, I could have attended a school that mostly concentrated on art and design like SVA, Purchase, FIT. But I wanted an atmosphere that was different. A school with different majors and people. The thing about art schools is everyone is pretty much the same person. Yeah, it has a certain atmosphere some people are looking for, but it wasn&#8217;t what I was looking for. Plus, it makes it much harder and competitive. And that&#8217;s where number for 4 comes in.<\/li>\n<li>4. Opportunity: look at resources and opportunity the institution can provide for you, because your higher education is an investment in yourself and is it the right investment from what you get.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Farmingdale State College is actually almost like NYIT and City Tech. Being at NYIT, of course, at the tuition price they had a lot of resources. But the resources at Farmingdale are a little better and at an affordable price.<\/p>\n<p>One thing about Farmingdale is that it\u2019s my first school where I have not taken public transportation. It being located on Long Island, and I living on the border of Queens and Long Island, it&#8217;s an easy 30-minute drive; beats taking the bus and subway, having a two-hour commute to the city.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>5. Do plan to dorm or commute. For me I love the city, but traveling hours every day put a toll on me. Between school work and everything in between, time is money and money is time. So, I say finding the common ground may take a few tries. Learn from your mistakes, but right now for me Farmingdale is where I\u2019m at. And one thing I can say personally is that Farmingdale is very veteran friendly! There are multiple perks and the benefit being a veteran\/military student, something that wasn\u2019t reliable at the other institutions I attended. City Tech was a little to a lot all on your own. It was easy, but extra help in administration, counseling and other resources would\u2019ve been nice. However, I do miss the external atmosphere of these schools. And like I said, atmosphere is important when attending college. For me it was the easy settling for a bacon, egg and cheese from the breakfast cart, nice walks around the neighborhoods, etc. I gave up certain things for a reason, weighing the pros and cons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Farmingdale being my third institution does set my graduation time a few semesters back. But that&#8217;s my fault. I wish I had just known about Farmingdale in the beginning. But hey\u00a0 \u201c<em>Third time\u2019s the charm.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I graduated high school in 2016. It&#8217;s now 2019 and I have attended three colleges so far. I have been stacking on student ID\u2019s like they are trading cards at this point, trying to \u201ccollect \u2018em all\u201d as they say. But the real reason is I was trying to find the perfect institution that better [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[219],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4179,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions\/4179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/rambassadors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}