Now is the time for many anxious high school seniors when the letters of acceptance, rejection, or wait list status begin arriving. After all the work of developing your college list, after all the work of completing and submitting applications, now comes the work of deciding which, among the options open to you, is the best.
Ideally, during the search and application process, students identified a number of schools that would be a good fit personally, socially, and academically, and students have either received, or will soon receive, acceptance letters to several of these excellent schools. Which is the best choice? There are several factors to consider - majors offered, location, support services, student life, cost..... These are perhaps not terribly helpful, however, as these are the same factors considered when creating the college list in the first place. The good news is, the reason you applied to these schools is because they are all a great fit, so you should have a good experience whatever you choose. Once you've made your choice, don't waste any time wondering if one of the others would have been better; instead, focus your time and energy on connecting with and getting excited about the school you have decided to attend.
Before you make that decision, however, try to visit the schools you are considering; at least your top 2 or 3 choices, if you haven't already. Nothing can take the place of a personal experience on campus, talking with students, faculty, and staff, and getting a sense of the personality of the school. Some colleges can arrange for you to sit in on a class during your visit. Before you go, research campus clubs and activities you may be interested in, then try to connect with someone from those clubs while on campus.
Some students will make long lists of pros and cons for each choice, and try to boil it down to a purely rational choice. While this seems like a reasonable approach, the truth is that big decisions in our lives rarely come down to pure reason. After having a chance to visit the schools, pay attention to your feelings and emotions in addition to the objective facts. As Ruth Chang states in her excellent TED talk "How to Make Hard Choices", hard choices are hard specifically because neither option is inherently better than the other. We ourselves create the reasons that makes one choice better than the other - for us. Don't get caught up in issues of prestige, or how others are going to feel about your choice of college - this is about you and your future, not what other people think you should do.
So after you've created your long list of pros and cons, put the list aside for a moment, close your eyes, and reflect on how you feel. Imagine how each of the schools you are considering will help you become the person you want to be. And when you're ready to make the leap, jump enthusiastically onto the path you've chosen, and don't look back.
