Clemson University vs. Furman University 1. What I knew Being in the middle of high school, I am thinking about my future more than ever now. I have made mostly A’s and B’s all of my life, so I will probably have the chance to go to a good college if I choose to do so. This decision will be one of the biggest decisions of my life, and I will need to put much thought and research into this decision. Early in my life, I began going to Clemson University football, baseball, and soccer games. For this reason, I am now a big Clemson fan, and I hope to go there for my college career.

Another college I am interested in is Furman University. I have grown up most of my life living on the outskirts of Furman, and I have also been to many sports and educational camps there. I am very interested in learning more information about each of these colleges. Would Clemson or Furman be better for my college career? 2. Story of my search Over the past few months I have been researching many different aspects of both Clemson and Furman University. My search started on February 14th when our class went to the Wade Hampton High School Media Center.

To start, I made a very broad search of “Furman University Scholarships” in Google, to find the scholarships available at Furman. I found a web site, http://www. cappex. com/page/meritAid/programList. jsp;jsessionid=BB1645C5AD168050FC76ED053DF69064. server6? id=218070&collegeID=218070, which had a list of the scholarships at Furman. On that web site, there was a link (that took me to a database called The National Center for Education Statistics. This site had information about both Furman and Clemson. I found information about costs, admissions, enrollment, athletic programs, campus life, and majors of both colleges.

On February 10th we went back to the media center and I went back to the National Center for Education Statistics and finished my research on Furman. The next time we went to the media center was February 15th. On that day I was searching for a book that could be helpful. I was looking for a book that had information on specifically Furman or Clemson, and while I was searching, I found a book called College Admissions for the High School Athlete. This book contained helpful information on admissions and scholarships in general, not to a specific school.

That same day I was searching for a periodical so I went to Google and searched “Clemson periodical. ” This came up with a link to the Clemson World Magazine, where I found information on Clemson’s campus beauty and preservation. The next day we went to the library was the 2nd of March. On that day, I went back to the site of The National Center for Education Statistics and searched for information about Clemson University. I found information about Clemson’s cost, enrollment, majors, athletic programs, scholarships and campus life. I completed my research on Clemson on this site. 3.

What I Learned There are many things to consider when choosing a college and this decision will affect the rest of your life. On important factor to consider when looking is the cost of the college. The costs of Furman and Clemson are two very different numbers. According to the National Center for Education Services, if I chose to go to Furman, I would pay $50,936 every year. This is a total of all the costs including tuition, books and supplies, room and board, and other expenses. Tuition for students coming from in-state is $38,088 which is very high because Furman is a private school.

At Furman, that books and supplies every year cost $1,150 and the room and board costs $9,572. Some other costs total up to $2,126 per year. However with hard work earning scholarships and grants, the average price per year goes down to $24,220, this all according to the National Center for Education Services. According to Cappex, Some scholarships that would be available at Furman would be the Palmetto Fellows, the SC Life, and the National Merit scholarships. All of these scholarships are very high honors and require much hard work and very good grades and test scores (Stroud).

Clemson, in total, would cost around $25,060 per year for an in-state student. The tuition for Clemson of $11,908 is much lower than Furman’s because Clemson is a public school. The books and supplies per year cost $940, room and board costs $7,034, and other expenses total up to $5,178 (“Clemson University”). With average scholarships and grants received included into the cost, it drops to an average cost of $15,842 every year. Clemson receives a total of $22,822,844 to give out for scholarship money, and on average, a person will receive around $9,000 in scholarship money (“Clemson University”).

Along with these scholarships, I hope to receive an athletic scholarship as well. The application process and admissions are two important parts of getting into a college. When applying to Furman, I will be required to have my secondary school GPA, and my secondary school record. My secondary school rank, the completion of a college preparatory program, recommendations, and test scores for the ACT and SAT are all highly recommended by the admissions office (“Furman University”). When applying to Clemson, there is an application fee of $50. Clemson recommends that you have completed a college preparatory program, and have recommendations.

It is required to have secondary school GPA, secondary school record, secondary school rank, and admissions test scores (“Clemson University”). Furman admissions office receives around 4,500 applicants every year, and 68 percent of those applicants are accepted. Out of the percent accepted, only 21 percent enroll at Furman (“Furman University”). Clemson receives a total of 16, 282 applicants per year, and 63 percent of those applicants are admitted into the university. Around 33 percent of the admitted students enroll at Clemson (“Clemson University”).

According to Disalvo and Digeronimo, the chances of getting into a university for athletics are increased by sending videos of highlights of that person playing their sport. Also, the author recommends that the person should visit the college they are interested in both their junior and senior year of high school (Disalvo and Digeronimo 83). . Clemson and Furman are very different in size as well. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, the total enrollment at Furman is 2,962 students (“Furman University”) and at Clemson, the total enrollment is 19,111 (“Clemson University”).

If I was looking for a smaller school, then I would choose Furman, but if I was looking for a larger school I would choose Clemson. At Clemson, there are a larger percentage of male students than female students but not by too much (“Clemson University”). Furman has a larger percentage of female students than male students (“Furman University”). Most of Furman’s student population comes from out-of-state (“Furman University). Around 63 percent of Clemson’s student population comes from in-state (“Clemson University”).

Campus life is another very important factor I need to think about when choosing a college. According to Talon Stroud, who is a soccer player and a student at Furman University, the campus life at Furman is very good. He says “there is always something to do, there are many events on and off campus, and everyone knows each other because of the small campus. ” Clemson is a much larger school, but there are still many events always going on around campus (Clemson University Calenders). From 20 years ago, Clemson has made many changes to the campus.

For example, the North Green has been cleaned up and redone and now is a great hangout spot for students (“North Green Reveals Four Landmark Changes”). Both of these schools have a predominantly white population, however Clemson has a more diverse population than Furman (“Clemson University”, “Furman University”). At Furman, “there is not a diverse type of person. There are the ‘country clubbers’ and the athletes” (Stroud). This was Stroud’s only con about going to Furman, other than that, its great. When looking for a college to go to after high school, there are many things to consider.

According to Disalvo and Digeronimo, when selecting a college, I should narrow it down to schools that meet my academic and personal needs. Also, I should tie my athletic skills and goals into my top choices (26). Five factors to compare between my top choices are academic suitability, cost of the college, location, size of the school, and the athletic program (Disalvo and Digeronimo 29-35). Once I have narrowed down my choices, I should visit a student athlete at each school to find out what a student really thinks about campus life, the athletic programs, and the school itself (Disalvo and Digeronimo 89).

I want to become a college athlete, and according to Disalvo and Digeronimo, I can gain an advantage by going to camps for that sport, and participating in tournaments (15-17). If I wanted to play soccer, which is a fall sport in college, the best time to apply would be in March, April, and May. Also if I chose to run cross country in college, it would be best to apply from March to May (Disalvo and Digeronimo 51). Most soccer programs in the NCAA are given an average of 9. 9 full scholarships to award student athletes. Cross country programs are given around 12. 6 full scholarships (Disalvo and Digeronimo 119).

These numbers have decimals for partial scholarships that are given. In my college resume I should include: personal and academic information, my athletic profile, news clippings, recommendations, and a cover letter to the school. This gives the school a good look at your athletic and academic careers, and will help with the coach’s or admission’s decision (Disalvo and Digeronimo 44). At Furman, there is 27 men on the soccer squad, and 20 men on the track team (this includes cross country) (“Furman University”). At Clemson, the track team is larger with 46 men, and the soccer team has less with 25 (“Clemson University”).

I will investigate all of these factors before making my decision. 4. Conclusion This search provided me with lots of information about both Clemson and Furman. I did not know that there were so many things to consider when thinking about college. I am looking forward to college, however I am not looking forward to making that decision. This is a big decision that will affect the rest of my life. I learned a lot from searching about my question, and I am now a step closer to making my decision for college. I am still keeping my options open to many schools, and if any school will give me a large scholarship I will definitely go there.

I believe I will have many options for college. This paper will help me narrow the schools down and pick the best one for me. 5. How I Grew This paper helped me get better and understand many things about researching and essay writing. The biggest thing this project helped me with was researching. Before this paper, when I was researching I would just take info from the site or book and not do in text citations. I learned that in text citations are a very important part of the research paper. I had never done research the way of taking note cards and putting info on them.

The note cards helped a lot with the organization of the paper, as well as writing the paper in general. Normally, I get stuck when writing and do not know what to write next. However with the note cards, my paper is already laid out and is easier to write. Works Cited “Clemson University. ” National Center for Educational Statistics. Institute of Education Services. 2010-2011. Web. 02 Mar. 2011 Disalvo, Jack and Theresa Foy Digeronimo. College Admssions for the High School Athlete. New York, NY: Facts on Fire, Inc. , 2001. Print. “Furman University. ” National Center for Educational Statistics. Institute of Education Services.