I fell in love with two schools before my senior year of high school, call them College A and College B. I knew I wanted to apply ED to one of the two in the fall. I ultimately ended up deciding on the slightly more selective College A based on the fact that nobody from my school has gotten in in years and I thought I would not have a chance at regular admission. Come December, I was deferred from College A l and also deferred from one of my other top choices that I had applied early action to. I was confused because I thought my chances of getting into the EA school were higher. I ended up applying EDII to College B that I had been deciding between in the fall. I was accepted into this school recently and I have begun to have regrets. I’m not sure if I should have waited to hear back from College A or if I made the right choice choice to go with my other favorite, College B. I know that these schools are far more similar than different, but now that students are being admitted regular decision to my original ED school I can’t help but feel a bit of regret for not waiting despite getting into my other top choice.
You have been in the situation where there was thousands of options available for you and now there is one.
There is always a little “grass is greener” situation but you will bloom where you are planted.
You took the “risk” of ED to increase your chances, but at the cost of being able to compare options.
Unless you truly cannot afford ED2, you have committed to going there. Buy your cpllege shirt, sign up for the FB page and get excited about attending!
Regret is normal, but you made a smart choice. Remember why you fell in love with school B in the first place. Be thankful school B had ED 2 and you were admitted. Don’t look back. If you hadn’t gone ED 2 at school B, you might have been rejected by both in the regular round. If you were deferred from choice A, chances are you would have been rejected in the regular round, especially if no one from your school had been admitted in years. Most times a deferral is a polite no.
Congratulations, you will be attending College B. Embrace it. Be excited.
Had you got in to College A you’d be feeling the same “what if”? right now. It is normal, but the feeling usually passes. If you attend B and are truly miserable, you can transfer, but given that you were once on the fence between A & B, why not go forward with eagerness and pride?
But there’s a big difference from wondering “what if” for a few days and ruminating or obsessing.
ED is like a bad haircut. You can regret it once you have it, but it can’t be uncut. But it does grow back. Just like the appreciation for the school that saw great things in you and said yes. You made the best decision for yourself at the the time, based on the available facts. Trust yourself.
If you can’t afford your accepted spot, then you can look for another option. Other than that it’s a commitment and for good reason.
They said enjoy the March while everyone else stresses.
Ideas.
-Go to the accepted students page.
-Look at “campus reel” videos of your school.
-Go on their reddit page. Get into it.
-follow the school on twitter and insta. Go back over their tweets and posts.
-Buy a hat and tee shirt.
-go on the schools website and look at classes
-stay off the cc rd thread for the school you’ve moved on from, it’s just unhealthy!
Enjoy the honor you earned.
Don’t second guess the wonderful date you already have for the prom because you think someone “might’ say yes- with little or no proof to back it up.
Especially if they “deferred” you as a prom date the first time you asked.
You can’t live your life different ways. You made a reasoned, thought out decision and got a great result. It is time to stop looking backwards and look ahead to focus on how to make the most of your 4 years at College B.
Regret or at least doubts is pretty normal, but I’m sure you’ll be fine. My older son was deferred from both the colleges he applied EA to, accepted to one that only had SCEA, and chose ultimately to go to a school that was barely on his radar when he first applied and turned out to be wonderful. Be the sort of person who blooms where they are planted. You’ll be happier that way. Congrats!
Regret is normal, but remember with many decisions in life, you can only take one path and forgo the other (and you should only judge a decision by what you knew and felt at that time because there aren’t do-overs). Furthermore, regret is so normal that I think you would have felt regret even if you had gotten in to your ED1 school. In that case, you would have wondered if you would have gotten in to the other school and found reasons to like that school more.
That is why ED gives students a bit of an edge in admissions. It locks them in. You traded your choices at this time of the year for increased consideration of your application. It is entirely possible that you could have been turned down at this school had you not applied ED. Then it would not have been a choice at all.
Buyer remorse happens all of the time when we make choices and see other possibilities once the decision is made. Given information here, I don’t think huge differences among the schools in terms of how much you will like them. Your ED2 school was a top choice. Not like you picked a school at the bottom of your list.