SOC events at Rochester!

So, I may be a little bit crazy… but I attended three of the Spring Open Campus events this past month. I was there April 4, April 15, and April 16. The last two days were through the Arts at Rochester program, which was an event built off the April 15 SOC. I thought by now, since I live so close and I have visited so many times, I would have nothing to learn and I would be the expert pre-freshman student at these things. However, that was not totally the case. I still knew a lot, and pretty much knew my way around campus, but there was so much I learned, and there probably is more still to learn!

I liked these SOC events so much more than tours as a junior and such, because we had a lot more free time to walk around campus, talk to current students, and talk to faculty. Also, I knew that the current high school students there with me were accepted and thinking about going, so we all had something in common. I loved meeting everyone, and I met some really cool people! I hope that this experience convinced them to attend, and I tried to share what I knew and my enthusiasm to help make it easier for them.

I have become so much more confident with my choice to be a voice performance major. I talked to other students in the music department and some faculty, and it sounds like their own little family. It is a small department, but I really like that. In high school right now, my music department is really strong. If you only include the students who are in music because they love it, not because they need the graduating credit, we are a pretty small portion of the school. But because of that, all of my best friends are in music, and we all love it. So although I will not miss high school at all, it will be nice to have that feeling of close relationships with other students who love what they are doing.

I also talked to both faculty and students about pre-med, and although I know it will be hard to do both pre-med and music, I am much more determined to do both now. I honestly was contemplating only doing voice, but as much as I love music and singing, being realistic is always important. So although doctors always say they never use pre-med stuff in medical school and these courses are going to be insanely time-consuming and hard, I am currently planning on fighting through it. But it is because of my SOC experience! That is how close I felt with everyone there and how much I learned. It wasn’t only superficial things about campus; we got ALL of our questions answered.

One of my best experiences was the After Hours concert I saw. They are the coed a cappella group, and they were amazing!! I love listening to a cappella, and especially watching it live. It is so much fun to see everyone perform, because if you sing in one of these groups, it is impossible not to get into it. They had great singers, and their beat-boxers amazed me. I still have my heart set on the Yellowjackets, but After Hours really opened my eyes to how good everyone is on campus. Just because a student group might not be as big or well-known as another, it does not mean that they are not as good, or better! But yes, you will still see me first in line at the Yellowjackets audition during Orientation!

Well, I had so much fun at these events, and I feel like I could go on for pages and pages about everything I learned and everything I loved about it. But I don’t want to ruin ALL the surprises for everybody… But I can guarantee that the accepted students who decide to attend this University will have the time of their lives and be a part of experiences they will never forget. It is impossible to put in words how excited I am for everything about this college and Orientation week. I am just so happy when I think about it and write these blogs, because thinking of my new home is just thrilling as it is. I am so looking forward to meeting everyone who will be attending and even those who are attending now! Spring is here in Rochester; we’re that much closer to graduation and Orientation!!!