<p>I'm a senior beginning to hear back from colleges. I've gotten into Hampshire, Goucher, and Willamette all with merit scholarships. My dream school for a long time has been Reed College, really because I love learning, and I know the quirk of the student body would be a great fit. But as I'm imagining myself at all of these schools, I'm beginning to question what it is I want out of a school! </p>
<p>Is Hamphire best because I can study abroad and really get to know what I want to do? I'm considering majoring, or the closest thing to it in terms of Hampshire, in anthropology, but I also have interest in social psychology, world history, and photography. Maybe Hampshire is the best place to learn what I want to do.</p>
<p>I guess my real question is, how can I know which school is best for me? I know I need to study abroad, and I love to take classes and learn of anything that interests me. But I think I can do that at any of the schools. </p>
<p>Think of what’s important to you - study abroad, anthro major, finances, etc. Rank each school as to how it best meets your desires. Of course, that’s a very left-brained solution to a right-brained kid, but it’s good to try variety! </p>
<p>Also, when you have this list of what YOU want, you can visit the schools, or ask more specific questions here and on the school-specific forums, to get more specific answers.</p>
<p>You really can’t know which is best. When you take a job, you may find you actually don’t like it, or that the drive that was OK during the interview stinks at rush hour. When you get married, you may find that your spouse leaves dirty socks in the refrigerator. All you can do is do your best and bloom where you’re planted.</p>
<p>Apart from visiting (have you done that already?), there are a few ways to get insight into the schools’ personalities:</p>
<p>1) Read back issues of the student newspapers to see what the student body cares about
2) Check the calendar to see what kind of activities are going on
3) Look at the course catalog to see if they have 4 years worth of classes that excite you
4) Check out how many students graduated in your areas of potential interest and where they ended up
5) Look at the research interests of the faculty in the areas you care about: Anyone there you think you’d like to work with?</p>
<p>If you’ve done ‘due diligence,’ then as Geekmom63 says, then you’ve made the best decision you could with the information available. You won’t know for sure til you show up - but chances are good that if it looked right and felt right, then it will be alright.</p>
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