Personal Narrative: My Predetermined Purpose

This is my junior year at Southridge High School, and I am very pensive when I ponder the matter of selecting the most appropriate college. My predetermined purpose is to find an affordable four-year college that will prepare me for medical school. Because of that, I narrowed my choices to Harvard University and Portland State University. After considering both colleges, I decided that Portland State was the most appropriate college based on my predetermined purpose. The most important factor was which college could provide the best chemistry courses to help me acquire a major in chemistry. Another factor was the college expenses. The final and least important factor was my chances of getting accepted by the college.
Obtaining a major in …show more content…
At Portland State, 51.7% of the classes contain 20 to 49 students (Portland State University). On the other hand, Harvard “has 74 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students” (Harvard University). Over the past few years at Southridge High School, I found out that I learn best in a classroom that contains a variety of students to interact with because I love to hear numerous ideas. Portland State presents me the opportunity to interact with a variety of students due to its class size. In contrast, Harvard does not give me the opportunity to interact with a variety of students because their class sizes are smaller than Portland State. This helps me attain my predetermined purpose because I need to be prepared and be ready to interact with a lot of students in medical school. According to two students that are currently attending Portland State, Portland State has cutting-edge technology in their chemistry facilities, and the professors advocate students to collaborate in order to complete a lab (Lai & Lai). Similarly, Harvard contains a profusion of buildings that “are used exclusively for scientific research. They offer interconnected labs, clusters, and offices designed to …show more content…
Comparing the college expenses of Harvard and Portland State, Portland State is more affordable than Harvard because I am an in-state student, which means the cost of attending Portland State will be cheaper than attending an out-of-state college like Harvard. In like manner, by looking at my chances of getting accepted by Harvard and Portland State, Portland State has a higher acceptance rate compared to Harvard because Portland State is a public university with less competitive restrictions. All three factors make Portland State more appealing than Harvard. Therefore, I am picking Portland State over Harvard based on the three factors, which means Portland State matches my predetermined purpose of finding an affordable four-year college that will prepare me for medical school. However, I am keeping Harvard in mind because, after my four years at Portland State, I want to attend Harvard Medical School in Boston,