Student wins trip to visit colleges of his choice

When Patrick Outler got the call from the Texas Instruments and Princeton Review Dream College Tour Sweepstakes, he thought he had won just a calculator.

Patrick, a rising senior at A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet High School, had indeed won a calculator, but he also is packing his bags. His entry was picked at random out of 24,496 entries as the sweepstakes winner to visit colleges of his choice.

Today and Wednesday, he will visit The Juilliard School and Wagner College in New York City, a trip valued at $4,999.

It's an adventure for Patrick, who had never ridden on a plane or traveled out of the region. When he was offered the trip, he considered visiting Georgia colleges, but with the opportunity to go anywhere for the visit, "why not go see New York?" he said.

He is on the health science track at Johnson and is considering school to be a nurse or a physician's assistant.

"But I have this music passion, so I don't know which way I might go," Patrick said. He sings with his church, Carpentersville Baptist Church in North Augusta.

He does know he wants to find his "home away from home," a place that feels like Augusta but is out of his hometown. He also wants it to be small enough that he can know a lot of people on campus. After he visited the University of Georgia with Youth Leadership Augusta, he decided it was too big.

To help narrow down what Patrick is looking for in a school, he and his parents will be accompanied by Rob Franek, the senior vice president for publishing at Princeton Review and author of The Best 371 Colleges .

Mr. Franek has set up time for Patrick to speak with admissions and faculty members and students.

Each group offers a different perspective: Admissions can address requirements and financial aid, and faculty can address the level of accessibility to students, expectations and teaching style. Students can show what the quality of life is like on campus.

Patrick is similar to many students who are on a specific track, Mr. Franek said. He is good at math and science, but he also is passionate about music.

"They shouldn't feel at all pigeonholed," he said.

If students are debating between summer or fall visits to college campuses, Mr. Franek said, there's not much difference, but a second fall visit to a school a student is seriously interested in applying to would be ideal.

Reach Sarah Day Owen at (706) 823-3223 or sarah.owen@augustachronicle.com.