Daniel replies:

Why am I all of a sudden a college counselor? OK, I will tell you--basically I had two choices, the local state university, and a college that specialized in creative and arty stuff, and was just coming to the end of a golden period.  Naturally I went to that one. (Institutions can change, and while I had a great experience there, by the time I graduated it had become a different school, which might not have suited me as well.)  Your concerns, expressed in your post appear to be weirdness, and geography, so you would probably not want to do what I would very likely do if I were applying to college today--spend 2 years at a local junior or community college, saving money, getting requirements out of the way, building a superior record, and then transfer to a university I might not have considered, possibly to study something I might not have known about or thought of when I started. I think higher education in this country needs reform--costs are ridiculous and often the student does not get anything like value for money.  If by, ""very far away,"" you mean a college someplace like New Zealand, where you'd get a better educational deal, that might be a cool choice.