Columbia Heights, Minnesota
By Zamzam Ahmed, iLander Staff Reporter
For CHHS senior Angelica Toledo, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter will be her home for the next four years.
A medium-sized school with a population of 2,471 undergraduates, Gustavus has been a popular college choice for Heights seniors.
“I applied to Gustavus because I wanted to attend a small liberal arts school where I could get one-on-one attention from my professors,” Toledo said. “I didn’t think I would get that from a large school like the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.”
According to the college’s website, it has an 11:1 student-faculty ratio, which is relatively small compared to larger universities. The most popular majors include biology, social sciences and business/marketing. This works great for Toledo, who plans to double major in international marketing and Spanish.
“A degree in marketing and Spanish will allow me to travel around the world to do the kind of job that I want,” Toledo said.
Although she immigrated from Ecuador at a young age, Toledo hopes to strengthen her Spanish language and writing in college; and hopefully study abroad throughout Latin America.
“Traveling abroad is one of the most exciting parts of college and I hope I’ll be able to visit countries that I would have never had the chance to see,” Toledo said.
Gustavus Adolphus, like some other schools, has a program called “J-Term,” when students take an intensive course in one subject rather than several different ones. For many students who study abroad during this two-week program, they get to deeply experience a culture while studying with a tight-knit group of students. This program also works for students whose major makes it difficult to study abroad.
With an intimate community campus feel and great financial aid, Gustavus Adolphus was a perfect choice for Toledo. In the next couple of weeks she looks forward to meeting a counselor to set up her schedule for next year.