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Health & Fitness

Gryffindor's Guide to College: Where Would Harry Potter Go to College?

Where would Harry Potter go to college? This article uses the character traits of Harry, Ron, and Hermione to help students figure out where to go.

With which character from the Harry Potter series do you most identify? Are you more like Ron? Lacking in confidence, but with incredible talent lying under the surface, ready to come through in a crunch?

Or are you more like Harry? Not interested in studying unless it is to uncover how to counter Voldemort, then willing to expend huge amounts of time and energy in learning what you need to know?

Do you see Hermione in yourself? You love to learn for the sake of learning and need a time shifter to manage all of your classes and activities?

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Perhaps you are like the Weasley twins. Traditional school doesn’t interest you, but you are a genius at seeing an opportunity to create a business based on your own passion.

The Harry Potter series is brilliant on so many levels, but as I was watching the final movie "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2," http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/harry-potter-deathly-hallows-part-2.html? showVideo=1#belowNav

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I was struck by how J.K. Rowling mastered the art of developing real characters.

Now that the young wizards have grown to the age of prospective college applicants, I kept thinking about how each of them had innate strengths that brought something to the fight against Voldemort. They each lent a hand in developing and carrying out the plan and without any one of them, the plan would not have worked successfully.

As you think about yourself, think about what you bring to the table. How do you learn, how do you achieve your goals? What part do you play in a team? Are you the leader? Are you the implementer? Are you the creative person who gets the group thinking in a different direction? Do you like to read as much as possible before you make a decision and then apply what you’ve read to the situation? Or do you act more from your gut?

As you start to develop a better picture of yourself, you can match it with a college environment that fits your style.

You will also have a better handle on how to present yourself to colleges when you write your application.

Very likely, we all have a little bit of each of these characters within us, and depending on the circumstances, one will be more pronounced. In times of stress, it is good to know which part is the strongest, because inevitably that is what you fall back on.

So which school would Harry Potter go to? Hermione? Ron? If I had to make a recommendation, I’d steer Harry towards a hands-on learning environment, Hermione towards a highly intellectual, challenging environment and Ron towards a small liberal arts college to build his confidence. (Although in truth, he'll follow Hermione or Harry!)

Where will you go? That’s up to you!

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