A whole year goes by in “the blink of an eye.” I know so cliché, right? But that’s the only way to describe the past year. Now a sophomore and a public relations major, I have over 48 credits to my name. I am originally from a high school with a graduating class of 470 students in Cranston, Rhode Island.

When I started looking at colleges, not too long ago, I was stressed and had no idea where I wanted to be. I came from a school with about twenty-five kids per class, and I had always liked the teacher-student ratio. I was able to become close with teachers and they were able to get to know me and my learning style as a student. When I started looking for schools, I had the feeling that I would be overwhelmed in a school with sixty or more students per class. This helped me narrow down my search a bit, realizing I wanted smaller classrooms, where it would be easy for a professor to get to know me, in just a short semester.

So why did I choose Boston? I grew up in a small city, where everything I wanted was pretty much within walking distance. I knew I wanted that same feel with college. Boston ended up being my main focus for colleges. I had been to Boston before, but I was not very familiar with the city. I knew Boston would be a new experience for me and quite an adjustment, but I think that was just what I was looking for. In Boston, I am now a part of the city.  Any place I want to go is accessible by walking or taking the T and there are so many schools in such a small area, so it is so easy to meet people from all different colleges and universities.

I came across Suffolk University while browsing collegeboard.com, an online website designed to help students keep their college searches organized. The school seemed to have all of the aspects I was looking for in a school. I found that the average Suffolk classroom was only around twenty-five students, and this was one of the first colleges I found right in the heart of the city, with small classrooms.

I went on a tour of Suffolk and found that this was exactly where I wanted to be. The Miller Hall dorm we saw was gorgeous, and the classrooms were new and comfortable. The library here at Suffolk was also one of the nicest libraries that I had seen after being on several college tours.
Although there is not technically a “campus” here at Suffolk, we use the city of Boston as our college town. The Suffolk buildings are all close to each other, which makes it easy to get from the dorm to class in less than ten minutes.

I did not know anyone going to Suffolk from my high school, but it took no time to meet new people through living in the dorm, joining clubs, and just going to my classes. This spring I will be in Australia, studying abroad. We have an amazing study abroad program at Suffolk, where students can study basically anywhere in the world they want to. Looking back at the college search process, and even looking back on my freshman year, I would not have done anything differently. Visit as many school as you possibly can and get a feel for diverse school campuses. The more schools you see, the better idea you will have as to what is the perfect school for you. If you have any questions at all, feel free to e-mail me at hebrennan@suffolk.edu.