California Lutheran University

Well it’s come to that infamous day May 1; the national deadline for submitting the SIR (Statement of Intent to Register) for your chosen university. I figure that this is an ideal day to make this post. As some of you know, I have been offered the Presidential Scholarship at California Lutheran University. I’ll take this opportunity to officially announce that I have submitted my SIR and deposit with Cal Lutheran and, assuming nothing drastic changes, will be attending there next year. To respond to questions and explain myself further, I’ve decided to include a list of my reasons for choosing Cal Lu:

• Academics. As many of you know, my ultimate goal is a career in medicine. Cal Lutheran’s medical school acceptance rate is well above the national average. I have come to the conclusion that the benefits of CLU outweigh those of a larger “name school.” Instead of competing with 600 rabid premeds at UCSD, there are 30 at Cal Lu. Additionally, Ventura County offers a great deal in terms of clinical experience and internships with priority given to CLU students.
• Size. I am looking forward to attending a school, not a city. The small size offers one on one with professors. This is vital in getting much needed recommendations.
• Music. I want to study both biology and music, and from the start, Cal Lutheran made it known this is possible and they would help. While other universities frowned on this I discovered Cal Lutheran’s clarinet teacher and orchestra director is not only a great guy I can work easily with, but has a son who is a practicing MD and CLU graduate. This means that I will be part of a music department that understands my goals and will make the accommodations to help me accomplish them.
• Atmosphere. I’ll admit it, I’m a homebody…I like my family. When I was on campus for the Presidential Scholarship interviews I was very impressed by the overall family feel of the university and the relationships between students. I could see myself there, and this is not something I can say about other schools I’ve toured.
• The price is right. A Presidential Scholarship means I’m attending tuition free. While I understand my family would make the accommodations so I could go elsewhere, part of growing up is making good decisions. I have a lot of education ahead of me and I feel that accepting this scholarship would be the most economically sound decision at this point. I look at it as another perk to an already long list of CLU’s positive points.

Even with these many reasons, this wasn’t an easy decision. Thank you to all who have offered input, I have taken essentially everything into consideration. This has been one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make, but I’m confident it’s the right one.