Why I Am In Love With Babson College
It’s that time in my life, the time most kids absolutely dread and try to push off for as long as possible. Unlike most kids, however, I actually enjoy it.
It’s that time in my life where I hear the same question every time I am at a family dinner, every time I am at a friends house talking with their parents, and every time I find myself in my guidance counselor’s office.
“So Andrew, where do you want to go to college?”
Before really diving into the college search process, I think I gave a different answer every single time I was asked this. But, it typically went something like this, “I have a whole bunch of schools I like, but I am mainly looking for a school that has great greek life, a solid business school, and a place where I won’t know anyone else.”
Now, with all of my applications submitted, I reflect back on my college search process and realize that with each school I considered, I asked myself 3 crucial questions:
- Will I be getting a world class business education that will challenge me and make me think in new ways?
- What is the social life like? (Is greek life strong? Is there school spirit?)
- Are there opportunities for me to continue to grow as an entrepreneur? (Pitch competitions, building relationships with alumni, etc.)
I’d like to address question #2 on my list of 3 questions and explain that while greek life and school spirit is important to me, it is not for the same reasons as my friends and peers.
No, I don’t want to be in a fraternity just so I can use it as a platform to go to parties every weekend and find sorority girls (It’s the 21st century I can easily find parties through social media and use any dating app to find girls). But I look at joining a fraternity as an amazing platform to be connected to guys my age, from different parts from around the world, all with different personalities.
As far as a college with a lot of school spirit, I want a school that I can be proud to say, “YES! That is where I go to school!” Before diving deeper into this process, I always thought that school spirit meant the school with the coolest colors, most amount of national championships, and largest tailgates. Though that may be the typical criteria for determining school spirit, I now know that I only have one requirement: I must be proud to be at the institution that I attend. Simple as that.
So now, as I wait to hear back from the multitude of colleges I applied to, I find myself asking the question almost every day, “So Andrew, where do you want to go to college?”
Contrary to the answer I used to give my friends and family, I am now much more confident in the answer I give myself, and honestly get excited to share that answer with the people who ask.
I give the same answer every single time and it won’t change. It goes like this, “My number 1 school is the school of my dreams, a school that will give me a world class business education, allow me to join a fraternity and connect with guys that have similar goals as me, and a place where all 2,100 students are entrepreneurs looking to grow and find new opportunities. The school is called Babson. Babson College. It’s located about 20 minutes from Boston, MA in the small town of Wellesley.”
Typically, I will get a response that is along the lines of, “Very nice. Are you only looking at small schools?”
The answer is that it doesn’t matter the size of the school, the amount of fraternities there are and the size of the houses they have, how many national championships the school has won, the size of the dorms, or even how good the food is.
I dream of going to Babson because all of high school I have been living a world that forces me to balance a social life with my best friends who are all “straight A” student athletes with running a business, launching a book, working for a startup, and going to school everyday.
Babson will allow me to live with, study with, and collaborate with people that are exactly like me, people that love to have a good time but still grind as entrepreneurs and students.
I realized my love for Babson when visiting a good friend of mine, Max Iseson, who is a Junior at the school. After showing me the beautiful neighborhood of Wellesley filled with awesome restaurants, shops, and even the best ice-cream place in the world, J.P. Licks, he took me to meet his “brothers” at AEPi.
Without knowing what to expect, I was eager to see the type of “brothers” that were at AEPi, 1 of 3 fraternities on campus.
When I entered the house, I was instantly hooked on the culture of this place. Left and right there were guys playing video games, watching TV, playing pingpong, all the while talking about the latest investor they brought on or a new marketing strategy they are implementing.
I imagined myself as one of these guys talking business and having a good time, and still getting a world class education.
So, I’ll say this, Babson College is where I want to spend the next 4 years of my life. At Babson, I will find “my people” and thrive in my perfect environment.
