<p>I posted this on my blog today. Since I am not allowed to post the link here because of College Confidential rules, I am going to copy the entire article here in the hope that it will help those struggling to sort out there options. Please feel free to share it with friends. Good luck!
– Carolyn Lawrence</p>
<p>HOW TO MAKE THE FINAL COLLEGE CHOICE</p>
<p>For some students, making the final decision about which college to attend can be the toughest part of the admissions process. They find themselves riddled with doubt, overwhelmed with endless “What ifs?”, and unable to choose.</p>
<p>If you’re struggling with your college decision, here are some tips and tools to help you sort out the options:</p>
<li><p>Stay as calm as possible. While this is an important decision, allowing yourself to be consumed with worry and fear will not help you make a better choice. Give yourself some breathing room if you have to – you don’t have to decide today, or even tomorrow. You have until May 1, so there is plenty of time. If you find yourself riddled with anxiety, it may help to just take a break, and do something fun and unrelated to college decisions for a few days.</p></li>
<li><p>Start with YOU, not the colleges. Knowing yourself - your individual needs, desires, personality and goals - is just as important now as it was when you were drawing up your college list. Don’t immediately jump in and start comparing colleges without first thinking about what really matters to you. Make a list of the top ten characteristics you think are most important in a college. Be specific, and try to focus on quantifiable factors (cost, size, location, academics, etc.) as well as intangibles (reputation, campus culture, etc.). Remember, this list is about what you think is important, not the factors your parents, your neighbors or your best friend think are important. Avoid asking everyone you know (and in some cases, even strangers) what you should do. They won’t be the ones attending and they may be misinformed. The more opinions you get, the more confused you’re likely to be. Stay focused on YOUR priorities, and YOUR decision. After you’ve compiled your list, rank the characteristics from 1 to 10 in importance, with 1 being the most important. If you find two characteristics seem equally important, try to figure out which one is more important to you, and assign it the higher value. The goal of this exercise is to help you identify which characteristics you value most, irrespective of which college you might ultimately attend. The result will give you a road map for comparing your college options.</p></li>
<li><p>Accept that sometimes what we want is not achievable. This is sometimes the hardest part of making the final choice. Logically, you know that there are very good reasons why attending a certain college may not be possible. You weren’t admitted, were placed on a waitlist with a cast of thousands, you didn’t receive enough financial aid, or your family has had an unexpected change in circumstances that necessitates a change in your college plans. Often, discovering that a particular option is not possible makes us think that is the only good option. As a result, the other options we do have pale in comparison to what we can’t have. It’s always a bit sad to say good-bye to a college you’ve been admitted to but won’t attend. You sweated over the application, you spent time perusing the viewbook, you visited campus – but now, it is time to move on. Let yourself mourn a bit for what is not possible, then refocus on what is possible. If you’ve been waitlisted, there is nothing wrong with deciding to stay on the waitlist, but it is particularly important to act as if getting off will not happen. Treat your remaining options as if they are your only options (after all, for now, they are), and focus on deciding which of those choices are your preferred option.</p></li>
<li><p>Evaluate each college separately before you start comparing them. It’s a natural tendency to want to jump in and start comparing colleges to each other, but try to resist. Every college and university will have strengths and weaknesses - your goal is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each school based on the criteria that matters most to you. Take the list of criteria you developed above, and evaluate each college separately on those characteristics. If you feel you don’t have enough information to assess each college this way, take the time to do more research. Try to visit, go back through each school’s website, ask questions of admissions, faculty, and current students, even pull out the old college guidebooks and read them again. However, don’t just gather external information – also look for internal information. Your personal feelings and gut instinct about each college is important to weigh as well. </p></li>
<li><p>Narrow your list of options. After you’ve done the above, eliminate any college that only weakly matches your personal criteria. Remember - you can only attend one college in the end. While it may be hard to “let go” of options, it is a necessary step. </p></li>
<li><p>Compare the remaining choices in pairs. If you still have more than two options, here is a good exercise to clarify your preferences. For this exercise, it is helpful to download this worksheet from Mindtools.com (<a href=“http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/PairedComparisonWorksheet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/PairedComparisonWorksheet.pdf</a>) Assign each of your remaining college options a letter, then write the name of the college in the corresponding slot along the top row and left hand column. You’ll notice that some of the cells on the worksheet are blocked out so that you will never compare a college to itself or duplicate any pairing. Within the remaining cells, compare the college in the row with the one in the column. Decide which of the two college options is more important or preferable to you. Write down the letter of the more desirable option in that cell, and assign a score for the difference between the two from 0 (no major difference between the two) to 3 (major difference). As you go through the pairs, take notes about which differences seemed most important, as well as your thoughts about the differences between the pairs. Finally, add up the total of all of the values for each of your options. Does a particular college stand out as being most preferable when compared one on one to the others? Narrow your list further by eliminating any colleges that clearly did not stand up to any of the other options.</p></li>
<li><p>Remind yourself that there are no right or wrong college choices, there are just different ones. Deciding where to attend college is the last step in the long and tiring college application process. It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that somehow there is only one college where you can be happy, get into a great graduate school, ensure future career success, and meet the love of your life. But that is not true. For every student, there are many colleges and universities where happiness and success can and will occur. In the end, your college experience will be defined more by the attitude with which you approach it than by the actual college you attend. After you’ve made your choice, go forward confident that you will be happy, that you have made a good choice, and that all will be well. Best of luck, and do let me know where you’re heading!</p></li>
</ol>