Adam 2/3/09

I am currently here at Siena College because of my choices and preferences. I am here as well because of the influences from my society and family.

I am here at Siena because I like the community here probably because the students are very similar to me. The size of the campus is good as well because I am used to small schools and Siena is definitely a small school. There are a variety of majors that the college offers which appealed to me if I did decide to change my major. The distance from home is not too far but far enough where both my parents and I are comfortable. Siena offered the most financial aid to help my parents and I pay for my tuition. Siena is a Catholic college and I wanted to continue my education at a Catholic institution since I went to a Catholic grammar school and high school.

I felt somewhat obligated to go to college since both my parents went to college and all of their brothers and sisters went to college. In today's American society, having a college education can greatly help one get a higher paying job than just a high school education. When I was choosing where to go to college, my parents wanted me to be closer to home and I wanted to go to a school far away where I would be the only person from my high school. In the end, we compromised and I chose Siena. I was thinking about going to a SUNY institution where the tuition is less expense than Siena's tuition. However, my father refused to let me go to a SUNY university even though my parents both graduated from SUNY Buffalo. I respected my parents' wishes and did not even bother applying to any SUNY schools. I did not feel comfortable applying to Harvard because I felt that most Harvard students are in a very different social class than I am in. I currently do not believe that I would feel relaxed constantly interacting with other people who were potentially very different than me. I believe that I am similar to Siena students than Harvard students because I am in the same social class as most Siena students and I feel comfortable with people in my social class. I originally discovered Siena through one of those big books that lists and rates most colleges in America. I visited Siena's website and it seemed like I could potentially go there as a student in the future. If I did not open up that book from the library, there is a good chance that I never would have heard about Siena College.