Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96440
Sam Mulopulos ���10 For Sam Mulopulos, the college admissions process didn���t always run smoothly. ���I didn���t do enough work over the summer, which was a bad idea,��� he says. ���I got really crunched and ended up writing, like, 15 essays over Thanksgiving break.��� The pressure must have paid off. Sam started at Grinnell College this fall, where he plans to triple-major in history, political science and geology. It���s a challenging course load, but academic rigor was one of the things Sam wanted in a college, along with a liberal arts curriculum and small class sizes. His college counselor took these requirements and drafted a list of potential schools for Sam. The list became a touchstone, guiding his search efforts. ���Just based on a few questions, they knew who I was and what I was interested in. That was how I picked my school.��� If applying to colleges was stressful, making a final decision was even harder. ���I had this experience of, ���Oh wait. I got into more schools than I thought. Now I actually have to make a decision.������ He put off choosing until the last minute, making his parents increasingly nervous. But Sam had some serious thinking to do. ���On the day decisions were due I took a long walk. Afterward I was still undecided. So I talked to Miss Lieberman [my college counselor]. She told me, ���You can���t keep second-guessing yourself or it���s not going to end well. Have faith in how things played out and in the experiences you had when you visited.��� That made a lot of sense to me. And that sealed the deal.��� For Sam, what had set Grinnell apart was an overnight trip with a busload of prospective Grinnell classmates. On the ride there and during his time on campus, Sam discovered that these students were just as engaged and dedicated as his peers at Latin. ���I love being surrounded by passionate people. In my mind, that���s what a liberal arts education is: You���re learning, but it doesn���t always take place in the classroom. The great conversation could happen anywhere ��� in the dining hall, in the courtyard, during rehearsal.��� When asked over the summer before college if he was nervous to leave his friends at Latin and dive into college life, Sam paused for a moment to think. Then he broke out in a grin. ���No,��� he said. ���It���ll be an adventure. And I like adventure.��� n ��� Tiana Pyer-Pereira ���03 ���I love being surrounded by passionate people. In my mind, that���s what a liberal arts education is: You���re learning, but it doesn���t always take place in the classroom.��� Latin School of Chicago 29