I Don't Think These Feel Right...

This is an comparative analysis essay I've just completed for my Advanced Composition class. I thought you all might take pleasure reading it. Enjoy

I Don't Think These Feel Right...

I slip my feet in a new pair of Nike sneakers, and try and get a feel for what they are like. My feet are supposedly a size ten and a half. “These are nice, but not what I’m looking for.” My mom chimes is, “Ok, let’s try these. These are cool right? You kids like these don’t you?” She hands me a pair of no-arch Adidas Sambas. Still a size ten and a half. I pop off the other shoes and grip the edges of the shoes as I try and shove them on. The shoes glide on with an odd sense of ease. “They are way too big. I can’t walk without my heel springing out.” Mom says, “It says they are a ten and a half.”

“Well they sure don’t feel like it.”

“Ok, try these.” She hands me a painfully narrow pair of black and white Pumas. I look at them, then at my mother, then back at the pair of shoes. I can almost feel the agonizing squeeze of the narrow, leather/cloth-laden shoes just by looking at them. I suck in a breath and begin the shoe donning process. I couldn’t get them on. No matter which way I tugged or pulled, I just couldn’t get them to slide onto my wide feet. You know what can have the same kind of process? Looking for a suitable college.

So it’s my junior year, and I know college is just around the corner of life. I’ve started to look at possible colleges that may decide my life. Though, buying shoes won’t decide your fate, college can. Visiting a college is like trying on shoes. There can be a really small school, though still decently populated, and still look great on the outside. Then when you go and visit the school to see what it’s like, you may never want to see anything like it again. It can just rub you the wrong way, just like you pinky toe in a pair of narrow shoes.

Or I can visit a gargantuan school, like Texas A&M, and feel like fish egg in an ocean. Texas A&M has nearly “47,000 students” (collegestats.org) enrolled. The place could be absolutely what I need, but it’s just so gosh dang massive, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself! Hundreds and hundreds of courses, many of which can be incredibly enticing, making an indecisive person like myself even more indecisive. You can be swimming in that huge pair of Adidas Sambas.

So I downsize. Let’s look at DePaul University. It has nearly “26,000 students” (forbes.com). Still big, but what college isn’t big? It’s an arts school, so it’s a lot of what I want in a college. Music, theater, film, art. My essentials. The campus is very modern, and technologically advanced. But there’s something about it. I just don’t think it’s the place for me. It just a little too big. Just like the “swoosh” on the Nike’s side.

My mom hands me a pair of Converse kicks. Classic black and white hi-tops. “I thought you hated Converse mom?”

“We may as well give it a try!”

“Alright.” So I pull them on. It takes little struggle for me to slip my feet in and quickly lace up. I jump up off the bench to give them a test. They feel great. They look even better thanks to my dark colored jeans bringing out punk style of the shoes. Though, on me they look natural. Like I belong in them. I take a look at Northern Michigan University. The campus is scenic, and dazzlingly gorgeous. There’s always a view, being as the campus sits on Lake Superior. It’s a smaller college. About “10,000 students” (nmu.edu), yet still big enough to have a decently varied amount of students.

The theater program is excellent; the director performed on Broadway as Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables. That’s like the dream role for male actors. The tuition isn’t out of our budget either, and it’s also not extraordinarily far from home base. This pair of shoes fits snugly.

Though buying a pair of shoes can have its share of pains, you can always end up falling in love with a pair of shoes you never expected to find. Looking for colleges can be beyond annoying, though there’s no better feeling than when you find that place where you belong. Go buy a pair of shoes; you never know what you might discover.

Works Cited

"DePaul University." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

"Largest Colleges - CollegeStats.org." Largest Colleges - CollegeStats.org. U.S. Department of Education, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

"NMU Admissions." Northern Michigan University. Northern Michigan University, 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.