Musings on American culture by a German exchange student.

Last weekend I visited a college for an accepted students day. Apparently that is a generally used method of trying to decide on a college. Said college shall  remain unnamed, but, as it is of importance later, I will say that it  specializes in engineering and sciences.

The hoped for insightful visit, however, certainly did not start out that way. The welcoming speech was complete propaganda, which mostly focused on how great the college is, the need of every student to attend that college as it is the best choice one could make, and how smart all the accepted students are since they had been accepted. Not a lot to learn from that (but the snacks were good…).

Next, students and their entourages split up into groups of the subject of chosen majors, in our case, engineering. Another speech about how great the college is followed. Funny enough, all the pictures on the powerpoint slide they presented had female students in it – quite a misleading statement, as the gender ratio is about 88% male to 12% female in that particular engineering school.

After that, everyone was free to go wherever;  you could explore the campus, partake in the various activities provided, talk to students, find out more about the majors you are considering, etc. That part was fun, and informational. Having an exclusive view into the workings of different college buildings, talking to professors and department heads, seeing the actual students go about their business, all proved to be very informational. You still had to dig for anything negative (i.e. the weather is pretty bad most of the time), but genuine information was coming forth.

The tour highlighted the difference between German colleges and American colleges. German ones are less expensive, yes, but what you get is only the education. No housing, food, or any other extracurricular experiences. Here the colleges are all about that too. The money spent includes housing and a student community with clubs and activities. There is a mentality of, ‘It’s four years of my life – it should be good’. Now I understand more than ever why the college search is such an important task for seniors.

In the end the visit did prove enlightening. If one is willing to suffer though some boring speeches and is willing to dig beneath the surface for real information, much can be learned. Oh, and we did get a bag and pens for free.