by Libby Hyde

Air conditioning? Check. Nice dorms? Check. Theater program? Check. Good atmosphere? Check.

After visiting an estimate of over 20 colleges during her junior and senior years, senior Gabby Ferro has become somewhat of a pro at campus visits. After visiting many campuses, Ferro knew she wanted to go to a small school.

“The counselors [at STA] are great but they can’t tell you what you want,” Ferro said. “They can’t say that a certain school would be a better fit for you. You really have to go to the campus and see how you feel about it. I visited so many campuses and that changed my decisions. The feel of the schools really change how you view the school itself.”

Ferro will be attending Cornell College in Iowa next year and anticipates she will be double majoring in theater and some field of science, possibly biochemistry. She stumbled upon the school after receiving mail and emails from it as well as other small schools in Iowa.

“They sent me a lot of pamphlets,” Ferro said. “When I got them, I secretly was telling myself I didn’t want to go to Iowa because I was just getting too much mail from there. Of course, that was funny because now I’m going there.”

Though Ferro will be attending Cornell College, she said she and her family have always been ardent Kansas University supporters.

“I’ve been excited for college since I was like three because my parents always had so many fun stories,” Ferro said. “I thought I would attend KU and toured it a lot and was always on campus, but then I went to William Jewell College for a science camp and realized that I might like smaller schools more, especially because there were only nine graduates from Oak Hill, my grade school. I realized I wanted a small and pretty campus like STA. That’s how [my interest in small schools] started. It was very gradual, it wasn’t just a random decision.”

After careful consideration, Ferro realized that Cornell College would be her best fit due to a few major differences from other colleges and universities. First off, Cornell College students have a very unusual schedule. Instead of taking four or five courses in a semester, students at Cornell College take one class at a time. A student will be only taking that one course for three and a half weeks, during which he or she will receive credit for that course only. The class will go from either 9-11 a.m. or 1-3 p.m. every day. Then, after finishing that course, students have a four-day break before starting the next one.

“I thought [the schedule] was interesting and innovative and I started to think about how I study,” Ferro said. “Typically I will pick a class that I really love and I will spend a lot of time on it and invest myself in it. I think being able to devote so much time and effort to a specific class will be really beneficial in learning and processing the subject.”

Ferro said another thing unique to Cornell College is its small campus, containing about 1,200 students total. An environment, Ferro said, that reminded her of her high school experience at STA.

“I think I will like the level of friendship that I will have with so many of the students at the school,” Ferro said. “I have to say I loved all of my schools. It was the hardest decision of my life. All of [the schools I toured] are awesome and I would love all of them. I would have different experiences and opportunities at different ones, but I chose the one that had the most opportunities that I would have and enjoy.”