Choosing is a challenge

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- With less than a week to make up her mind, high school

senior Nikko Gallardo has yet to choose a college.

It’s crunch time for seniors who are making the huge life decision of

where to go to school, and 18-year-old Gallardo is no exception.

She is one of seven Class of 2000 students from Newport Harbor High

School that the community has watched for the past four years. Now, as

she prepares to graduate, the question on everyone’s mind -- including

her’s -- is where will she go next year.

While most universities need a decision by the first week of May,

Gallardo is still calmly weighing the pros and cons of the University of

Michigan and Cal State Long Beach.

“I have to decide in the next week,” Gallardo said. “I think I’m leaning

more toward Long Beach because it would be cheaper and more realistic.”

Although her mother, Stephanie Bland, is leaving the choice entirely up

to her daughter, she hopes Gallardo follows that instinct.

“I let her make her own decision -- I stayed out of it,” Bland said.

“Personally, I prefer she stay in the state of California.”

She would miss her daughter terribly, but Bland’s logical mind fastened

on the same obstacle as her daughter’s.

“I couldn’t see her going away to school and coming out owing the

government $50,000 or $60,000,” she said. “Not when it would be next to

nothing to go here.”

But considering her desire to be a lawyer one day, Gallardo wonders if

Michigan might not be the better choice.

“I’ve never been there, but my aunt recommended it,” Gallardo said.

“She’s a professor at Indiana and she said that they have a really good

program.”

As she continues to vacillate over the subject, the draws and the

drawbacks of each college are often one and the same.

The distance to Michigan is both a positive and a negative for Gallardo,

as is the close proximity of Long Beach.

“I’d miss my mom and friends, but I can’t make a decision because of

them,” she said. “I think I need to make out a list of pros and cons.”

She may not be sure of which college she wants to attend next year, but

she is quite sure she doesn’t want to be at Newport Harbor High School

for even two more months, she said.

“Senioritis has totally set in,” she said. “Seniors are getting sick of

it and don’t really care.”

PROS AND CONS

o7 Nikko Gallardo’s list to help her decide between two colleges:f7

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

PROS:

* It’s in Michigan

* It’s a Top 10 school

* It has a good law program

* Great sports teams (I love football and basketball)

CONS:

* It’s in Michigan

* It’s expensive

* I’ve never been in snow before

* I don’t know anyone out there

CAL STATE LONG BEACH

PROS:

It’s close to home

It’s cheaper

Pretty decent campus

I have some friends going there

CONS:

I feel if I go there, I’ll be stuck here

It’s a Cal State