Why Taylor?
How
did you hear about Taylor?
This question is posed to me a lot. Why would a
suburbanite from Miami, Florida
come to Upland, Indiana? The two-word answer is the
internet, but the full answer tells
a great story of God’s will for my life.
Where
did I want to go to college? It was an obvious answer: somewhere out of State.
I applied to one in-state college, the University of
North Florida (UNF) which is my father and mother’s Alma Matter, since it
was a good backup plan. It was near where my mother’s side of the family
live, Jacksonville, Florida; and under Florida Bright Futures, a
program set up by the lottery to pay for good student’s college
education, I would get 75% of the cost of attending UNF paid for. Most people I
talked to were thus surprised by my desire to go to an
obscure out of State college in a cold place
in the middle of nowhere. They expected me to go to either
the public University of Florida, an amazing deal for in-state students, as it
was practically free; or the private University
of Miami, the best local
college. I did not apply to either of the two and UNF was only a backup plan. I
could not stay in relatively the same area I had spent all my life, when I
could experience freedom in a different land. I thus turned to the internet.
I
had always thought of the Midwest as a nice
place to live. The price for shelter is affordable, the people are wholesome,
and the land has a certain beauty to it. There is no beach in Indiana, but I liked that fact. I had
acquired a hatred of the beach from the ridiculous amount of time my parents
brought me there. Being the curious person I am, I had
read that Kokomo, Indiana was the most affordable area to live
in the country. Living in the real estate madhouse that is Miami, and being versed in finance, as my
father is a banker, I saw the value of setting up my life in an affordable
location. What made Miami
worth paying five times as much for the same real estate? Nothing
to me. The beginning of my junior year I took the PSAT
which gave a range to expect for my SAT; I could now begin my college
search in earnest.
I used the collegeboard.com search tools to locate
possible colleges. I tinkered around with the search several times, but the
query kept pulling up Taylor University; it was in the Midwest,
it fit my possible SAT range, it was Christian but not aligned with one
specific church, and it had my intended major, Chemistry Education.
Interestingly enough it was near Kokomo,
a city that had already been on my mind due to that article I had read. When I
looked through the information, it listed as unique facilities a NASA-approved
clean room, particle accelerator, and NASA project space
research equipment. The physical science connoisseur in me loved the
idea of going to a college that contained these. When I looked at a teaching
website, Taylor University
was recognized as having a nationally recognized
science education program; no university in the state of Florida was on this list. Early on, I was
already confident in my selection of Taylor
University. My visit to Taylor increased this
certainty.
In
the spring of my junior year, my dad and I took a trip to visit Taylor University
on designated Campus Visitation Days. I loved it! It was like a hidden gem: an
outstanding University in the middle of apparent nothingness. The campus was
great in making us feel welcomed. Chapel was a great time of worship, and the
food was far better than what I got in the Dade Christian
School cafeteria my, the
cafeteria of the private school I had been in since 4K. I felt part of the
family as the campus mourned for the victims of the deadly car accident. Sure,
the dorm stay was in the Third East Wengatz lounge (the wing I am ironically on
right now), and during my visit I noted the usual Christian sins of hypocrisy,
but I still came away with a positive view of the University. I completed my
interview, talked with Al Harrison, and went on my way. I could not wait to
apply to Taylor University under a special early action
offered to visitors. I applied to Taylor
University really
early into my senior year and proceeded to visit two other colleges I
had looked at, Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and Wheaton
College in Wheaton, Illinois.
Visiting
the two campuses, I was disappointed by what I found
there. At Bradley, I found more fraternities and sororities than I thought
possible in an ugly run down city. At Wheaton,
I found an arrogant and haughty student body. These were my last visits to
universities. I quickly finished the rest of my college applications and sent
them to the other schools I was applying to: Bradley
University, Wheaton
College, Miami University of Ohio, Cedarville University,
and the University
of North Florida. My
application for Wheaton
was apparently not as complete as I thought, however.
As
the Wheaton College regular admission deadline
approached, I got a notice telling me that my recommendations were not
completed. My teachers stated they had sent them in. When I called to check,
admissions did not find it. I thought, “Great, I did all that work to
make the early action deadline just to be told two months later that I did not
have my recommendations in.” In contrast, Taylor University
had always kept me aware of my status, mostly electronically. This was not the
final Wheaton
mess up, however. I was soon disappointed by Wheaton College once again.
Having
applied for both the Taylor University and Wheaton
College ethnic student scholarship, I was accepted for Taylor
University’s scholarship but not
Wheaton College’s scholarship. As I
struggled to discover God’s will for my life, this made it abundantly
clear: God wanted me to go to Taylor
University. At this
point, I began to complete a rational argument to go to Taylor University.
Taylor University was offering me a leadership position
right off the back, a chance to play in the band as a non-music
major, and an opportunity to experience life in a rural setting away from
distractions. Though I was already set on Taylor, I continued to
contemplate the decision. Having been accepted to all
six colleges I applied to, I examined the merit-based aid being offered.
I
wanted to be able to give my father as well as myself a good financial reason
to go out of state. Bradley University offered sixty percent, Taylor offered twenty-five
percent (Dean’s Scholarship with Ethnic Student Scholarship), Miami
University of Ohio and Cedarville offered comparable amounts to Taylor, and the
University of North Florida would be virtually free as I discussed earlier.
Though I did not think of money as the biggest issue in choosing what college I
would go to, it helped me to eliminate several choices. Miami
University did not make it worth my
while to go to an out of state public university; and Cedarville
University did not stand out against Taylor with its similar
aid package. Wheaton
College’s
merit-based aid package is not in the above list; a good reason exists for
this.
When
I looked for Wheaton
College offered me, I
could not find it. In my acceptance packet, I found what I needed to access it
online. After a frustrating amount of attempts, I finally accessed it, and to
my dismay, I found out I had to fill out a FAFSA supplement; at this point,
this was not going to happen in time for the aid deadline. It may have been a
measly five percent that I would have been offered,
but now I would be offered nothing. Taylor
University, in contrast,
made the process as easy as possible. This final bureaucratic mess secured my
rejection of Wheaton
College. Bradley University was easier to turn down.
I had several reasons for turning down
Bradley’s generous financial aid package. I did not
like the idea of living in a place with that much air pollution and
Greek life. I also figured that I would have plenty of time to live in the city
after college, and this was my chance to experience rural life. Though Bradley
was not a Christian college, I had noticed on my trip there that it had a
distinct Christian element. I wanted to be part of a college with a defined
Christian purpose, however. I rejected Bradley University
offer of admittance. I now had to make a decision on UNF.
I got a letter from the University of North Florida
simply stating I was accepted to the college. UNF did
not send me countless of personal letters like Taylor University
did. I expected UNF to actively pursue me; I was the
son of the founder of the international students program there, had a great GPA
and SAT, and would diversify their student body. They did not give me one phone
call. In contrast, Taylor
University seemed to go all
out getting me to come here. I would rather go to a college that showed a
desire to have me there. I rejected UNF’s offer of admittance. I accepted
Taylor University’s offer of
admittance.
I am completely satisfied with my decision to
attend Taylor. Though
the cost may make me wonder whether this decision was the best one, I am constantly reminded that this is where God wants me. I
only have to reflect on what has brought me here to remind myself that I belong
here.
©2008
Jorge Eduardo Fernandez