Narrowing Down to My Top 10

I have come up with a list of my top 10 colleges that I will send my application to. After my trip to the East Coast for Ivy League Connection's Summer@Brown, I've become exposed to colleges outside the UC system, and essentially, outside California. While California has some of the best colleges around, including UC Berkeley, one of the finest among the UCs' and is highly recognized, I have done continuous research on different institutions across the nation. After hours of searching the web and flipping through college manuals, I've come to this list:

Boston University
Occidental College
Roger Williams University
Santa Clara University

UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Los Angeles
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara

Clearly, you can tell that I enjoy the warm climate and a vibrant atmosphere. BU and RW are the only two that are on the complete opposite side of the coast. I knew about BU previously however, I didn't get a chance to visit, but instead visited Boston College. On the other hand, I found RW through Brown's college fair. Why was it so interesting? I spotted Majors: Construction Management on their cardboard display and immediately walked over to their booth to learn more. The gentlemen there was very friendly and told me how this program combines Architecture with Business - perfect! These two fields interest me the most, and because RW offered a "two birds with one stone" package, it lured me into applying.

Looking at my UC choices, four out of six are located in Southern California, which offers sunshine throughout the year (for the most part), beaches, and allows a far enough yet traveable distance to home. Although SoCal seems like it is just a few hours away, it still makes me a little nervous because if I am sick, I can't drive six hours to drink some homemade chicken noodle soup. On the bright side, it also gives me a sense of independence which every college student needs to grow, mature, and flourish. Hopefully, I can achieve more than just a degree wherever I may be, east or west, north or south.