Official college admissions decisions letters have all gone out and students now have a mere two weeks to make their decisions and send in those big checks. This is the time to reflect and analyze what really matters in order to make a wise choice. Here is some help to get started.
• Review your original list: With students applying to more and more colleges to ensure admissions and financial options, many experience the mixed blessing of too many offers of admission. Go back to your original college list notes. Why did you choose to apply to each of those colleges in the first place? Make a list of the factors that attracted you to each college to which you have been accepted and start to rate the importance of them now that you know which you are comparing.
• Analyze costs: For many students, cost is a primary factor in choosing a college. Don't just be dazzled by the college of your dreams; do the math! Caluculate your expected costs over the course of your entire degree program, not just freshman year. If you were offered a merit or need-based scholarship, be sure it is likely to be renewed for the same amount every year. If a merit-based scholarship requires you to maintain a certain GPA, be realistic about your likelihood of being able to keep your grades that high. If that figure is higher than the GPA of your academic courses in high school, calculate conservatively on the assumption that you might not keep the award for four years. Don't neglect to include the costs of room and board; college tuition is just the tip of the iceberg of college costs.
• Go visit your top two choices: Don't be too frugal for this important research. If one of your top choices is a plane ride away, get a ticket and go. You probably don't need Mom or Dad there; this is going to be your decision in the end, so take this opportunity to decide based on what you discover is important to you. Some colleges offer free airfare to selected accepted students to visit. Sweet! – but only go if that college is one of your top two choices. Otherwise, it is a waste of precious time you need to make your smart choice. Also, students who attend these events are either certain they will matriculate, or close to a decision, so attending on a whim just introduces confusion. Go to admitted students events with your OWN agenda. Set up meetings with professors you want to talk to, or with the financial aid office. Make appointments ahead of time when possible, as the weekends tend to be pre-scheduled for you, with lots of fun that may obscure your more serious mission. Stay with a student in a dorm to get a real feel for student life. Come with questions written down to ask upperclassmen. Really listen to them and get a feel for what students love – and don't – about that college
• Trust your gut: To some degree, your college decision must be subjective. You can't know definitively what you will major in, with whom you will study or room, whether unexpected costs or experiences good or bad will alter your vision of the next four years. So, after all the factors have been totted up, make sure that you choose a college that you feel GREAT about attending! Don't let a student event such as "Malt Monday" overly influence you, but if the comradery and friendliness you experience at a campus event move you and all other factors are equal, don't be afraid to let your positive feelings for a college help you choose. Feel great about your college choice, whichever it is, and you'll be primed for the exciting, important next stage in your education!
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