<p>Soooo I probably made the biggest decision of my young life this week, and I've found it tough to say no to so many perfectly good schools. How did you feel after making your decision? Was the right choice for you very obvious, or did you have to make a close call? I can't help but wonder what my life would be like if I chose any of the other places. I don't think there's any other point in a person's life where all the choices are so distinctly laid out in front of them as when selecting a school. I mean it's not like you get to choose your spouse off a neat list, right? Thoughts? Comments?</p>
<p>I only wanted to go to one school. I applied to another as a safety, but I found out later it wasn’t that safe and I easily could have been rejected, even though I wasn’t. But yeah, I easily could have been shut out. </p>
<p>I don’t know. I always knew where I wanted to go. I didn’t consider that many other options. I’m deliriously happy with my choice, I adore everything about it, and I wouldn’t want it any other way though, so no problem.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s the biggest decision of your life, either. I mean it’s important, but meh. I don’t know. I think other things are more important, plenty of people get into careers that have nothing to do with their majors.</p>
<p>i don’t think its the biggest decision of your life.</p>
<p>My college choice was my first major personal decision but in retrospect it was rather inconsequential for me. I’m the type of person who easily adapts to just about anywhere, so I think whatever school I ended up at (as long as it wasn’t in my home state) I would’ve been happy. I applied to just about every type of school - elite private, tiny liberal arts, huge state schools, etc. and ended up at Michigan State and couldn’t be happier. I was choosing between GW and Michigan State at the very end but my college choice came down to cost. I chose the cheapest place for me that still had great programs for my areas of interest. In terms of the more elite schools, I will apply to those for grad school when I feel the name brand of the school matters more.</p>
<p>When I say biggest decision, I mean the biggest decision up to that point in a young persons life</p>
<p>Fa-la, my decision came down to GW vs Brandeis hahaha</p>
<p>^haha, which one did you end up choosing?</p>
<p>GW! 10char</p>
<p>Yeah, if people would read you did say
meaning the most significant decision of your life thus far.</p>
<p>Reed was my ideal college from the start. It was the second school I visited, the first being Lewis & Clark. I fell in love with the NW as soon as I landed, which consequentially caused me to hate every school I visited in Maine (only applied to LACs). I applied ED I and was accepted, meaning I had to withdraw my applications from the other nine schools I applied to (I applied to so many because I didn’t have an outstanding GPA, though my test scores and ECs were pretty good). I honestly felt great sending the letters to colleges asking that my application be withdrawn. It really solidified the idea that I was going to Reed.</p>
<p>I’m definitely facing the same issue at the moment. I was accepted to UCLA, my dream school ever since I first visited it back in fifth grade during a field trip. I applied for it during my Senior year of high school, got denied, and decided to go through CC. I’ve finally been offered a place there but reality has set in that I cannot possibly afford it (very little financial aid offered) and I can’t see myself putting my parents through the financial burden, especially with our current financial issues. So it looks like I’ll be going to CSULB 
Not my dream school but money talks and they are offering me a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>Money was a non-factor for me (not because I’m super rich haha, but because both schools gave amazing FA packages). So I had to decide based solely on the schools’ merits. You’d think all the state schools would be cheap, but I have 0 experience with the UC’s so I wouldn’t know</p>
<p>I applied to 5 schools. I had a reach (dream school), 2 safeties, and 2 more schools just in case but not really safeties. I ended up getting into all except one of the schools I applied to just in case. It was super easy for me to decide, because my dream school gave me the best financial aid, it was my dream school, and 2/3 of the other schools I got into gave me TERRIBLE financial aid. I was pretty lucky and fortunate because if I didn’t get into my reach, I would have had to go to my #3 choice school, the one that didn’t give terrible financial aid. But to be frank, who knows? Maybe I would have ended up liking my #3 choice school more than my dream school. I never visited choice #3 or gave it a chance to become my dream school before committing to my reach. I still kind of regret that.</p>
<p>After I made my choice, I felt really good about it. I got into 6 schools, but it really came down to two that I was choosing between. I visited NU and loved it. Of course, when I got to campus in September, I was pretty nervous/getting cold feet, but I just wrapped up my first year last month and it was amazing!</p>
<p>I don’t regret choosing NU over any of the other five schools I was accepted to, mainly because of its proximity to Chicago and how that has provided me with a great internship this summer. However, after declaring my majors, I do wish I had applied to more schools in the DC area (GW, American, etc) because I have government aspirations. However, in the end, I’m happy I chose where I did. I believe pretty strongly that you’ll be fine wherever you may end up. :)</p>
<p>I agree, deciding on a college is a big decision as typically you will find yourself studying at the university for four years. When I decided to attend the University of Iowa it was a clear choice to me as it was exactly everything I was looking for in a university. Now I couldn’t be more happy with my decision ( family would prefer me closer but I think they are more lightening up now).
If you invested a lot of time in finding the right university you should be okay.</p>
<p>Well, I applied to nine schools, and my definite first choice was UC San Diego. Once I got in, I SIRed almost immediately. After I SIRed, I realized that I still wanted to look into UC Davis and UCSB (since I had never really given them a chance before. I was too set on UCSD), but I asked my dad about it and he wouldn’t listen, so I just put myself in the mindset of going to UCSD. I was still really excited and wanted to go until about a week before May 1, which was when I started to question/regret my decision. At that point I told my mom that I really wanted to look into UCSB and UC Davis still, and she was completely okay with it. The next week was spent agonizing over my decision between UCSB, UCSD, and UC Davis, and it was an extremely difficult decision. After a pro/con list and a visit to the campus, I decided on UC Davis at the very last minute. I’m still not 100% positive I made the right choice. I’ve had a couple moments when I was almost positive I should have chosen UCSB or UCSD and was beating myself over the head. But that’s just the type of person I am. For the most part, I’m excited for Davis and think it will be great, but I do wish one of the schools had really jumped out at me as being the right one (which I suppose was UCSD until I realized some of the negative aspects of the school…)</p>
<p>I feel ya. Although I don’t necessarily think this was the biggest decision I’ve ever made in my life, I applied to 13 schools because I panicked and thought I wouldn’t get in anywhere. Then I got into 9 of them…so it was a weird decision. </p>
<p>Fortunately, I’m like fa-la-la-lena and I figured I could adapt to just about any kind of environment - from small LAC to large university. In the end, financial aid offers eliminated a lot of the schools, and it came down to Carleton, NOrthwestern, and UVa. I fell in love with both Carleton and UVA when I visited and although I think my parents were a bit disappointed, I ended up choosing Carleton because I just felt like I fit in better there. I was extremely nervous about my decision all summer, but I love my school and feel that I picked the right place for me.</p>
<p>Yeah, my parents were a bit more than disappointed too when i chose not to go to brandeis</p>
<p>When making my official decision to go to UCI, I felt a little nervous, as if I was sealing the deal and never able to go back. I started throwing out all the brochures for other schools, and felt the same way, that I wasn’t going to go to any of them anymore. But then I felt this strange elation, an excitement that I had a school to go to and it was a good school, and none others would get me.</p>
<p>I applied to 4 schools if I count a community college. I got into 3, but didn’t get into the school that was in my hometown, which I realized was the one I really wanted to go to. So i’m about to enter my sophmore year and i’m going to hopefully be transferring to said school this spring.</p>
<p>I don’t think i’d say its the biggest decision of your life, but its definitely up there. The classes you’ll take, the people you’ll meet, the things you’ll experience…All of those can be drastically different based on what school you go to.</p>
<p>Deciding between the two schools I got into for transfer (and with less than a week to choose) was incredibly stressful, but after I made my decision, I felt incredibly relieved and comfortable in that decision.</p>