<p>So let's hear it; how did you make that final decision?</p>
<p>Last year (junior year), I was in webmastering, and I would see my friend Trevor wearing a Vanderbilt shirt a lot. I came to find out that both his parents and his older sister had attended, and he would be too. Despite being in a blow-off, super super easy elective together, he recognized that it would be a perfect fit for me and constantly urged me to check it out over the summer, and visit if I could.</p>
<p>I finished all of my college applications in August, and since I had done some Common App’s for other schools, I decided to throw Vanderbilt into the mix. I kept up with the CC board on Vandy fairly regularly, and set my heart on it. After discussing logistics with my parents, however, they tried to convince me that it wasn’t “realistic”: too expensive, too far, too hard, etc. I pushed it to the back of my mind about mid-October, and let it stay there.</p>
<p>Then comes late March (29th? 30th? somewhere around there). I know it’s a Saturday, because both of my parents came into my room to wake me up. This is weird–why are they both waking me up? Why am I even being woken up on a Saturday?? Bleary-eyed, I look at this envelope my mom hands to me. On the outside, it says “Congratualations,” but I don’t recognize this til later. I check the inside: I GOT IN.</p>
<p>From there, the story gets less interesting. We re-discuss it, they let me keep Vandy as a reach, but I put down my deposit at Texas anyways. We apply for FA way past the due date, and somehow luckily received almost $34,000 from VU, despite being an upper middle class family. We visited in April, on my birthday, actually, and the second I set foot on campus, I knew, and my parents did too. I withdrew my deposit from Texas, and I was able to attend my dream school.</p>
<p>Sorry for the novel!</p>
<p>OK so here’s how I made the final decision (not gonna go into how I picked these schools to apply to)</p>
<p>October: got a letter in the mail saying that my junior year grades were not good enough from Pitt so I sent them my first quarter grades, started to freak out since Pitt was a match school for me.</p>
<p>November (last weekend): First Acceptance Letter From Pitt! Was really excited since I had visited the school in August and loved the city of Pittsburgh</p>
<p>December: Accepted to UMass-Amherst with tuition waivered and Northeastern with a $14,000/scholarship. However, I applied to these schools only because my parents insisted and a visit to both of these schools the same month did nothing to change my mind about these schools.
Pitt reminds my first choice even as I do more research on the school.</p>
<p>January: Deferred from Purdue and NC State. Wasn’t too worried though since I knew Purdue had a 80% or something admissions rate.</p>
<p>February: Accepted to Clemson! Had heard really good things about it but had concerns about the adjustment I would have to make to the southern culture and the perception/response I would get from people in New England and my relatives abroad if I said I went to Clemson. Parent’s seemed really skeptical about Clemson.
First choices now are Pitt and Clemson.</p>
<p>March: Accepted to Purdue engineering! Causes a big problem since I’m majoring in engineering and Purdue has a top engineering program (and my parents are one of the people obsessed with prestige). Am forced by myself to look at Purdue. Pitt drops off my list because compared to Purdue and Clemson, Pitt has a pathetic civil engineering department. I had visited Purdue in August and was perfectly ok with going to school there.
Oh, and I was rejected to NC State for some reason…so one less school to decide between.
First Choices: Clemson and Purdue</p>
<p>Late March/early April: Accepted To Virginia Tech! Was also really excited about this acceptance but also had some concerns because of the two awful incidents connected to the school over the past 2 years.
I made a visit to the south and visited Virginia Tech and Clemson and they both were very impressive. I loved the school spirit and surrounding areas of both schools (compared to Indiana, I’m an outdoors guy)
First Choices: Virginia Tech/Clemson</p>
<p>Late April (aka decision time): Went back and forth and finally made a decision on May 1st. I really liked Clemson over Virginia Tech but was held back by the fact that Virginia Tech had a better engineering reputation and was cheaper than Clemson. If Virginia Tech had a better engineering program at a cheaper price, wouldn’t that be the right place to go? My parents were also pushing for VTech. However, in the end I chose Clemson because I decided that Clemson had a solid enough engineering program and that I would succeed somewhere where I was sure I would be happy.</p>
<p>FINAL DECISION: CLEMSON!!!</p>
<p>I started researching colleges really early…mainly to convince my parents that it didn’t really matter that I was doing so poorly in math. Through my junior year I wanted to go to either Providence, American or GWU and my list was comprised of those schools and like all of the Boston-area colleges, Geneseo and Binghamton. Then I visited the DC-area schools during the summer and met with coaches at GW and AU and I wanted to go to either GW, AU or Georgetown, depending on where I got in. I also decided to apply to CUA and UMD-College Park. </p>
<p>Then in the fall of my senior year I started going heavier into the athletic-recruiting process and started to receive free applications in the mail which heavily altered my list of schools to apply to. For a while I was going to apply to Tulane but I don’t like warm weather and realized it was overall a poor fit for me. I ended up applying to mostly Catholic schools in big cities, with the exception of two SUNYs, GW and AU were the only secular-privates. Even though I applied to Georgetown I did not think I was going to get in so it was not a major part of my decision making process. I went on two official visits, to GW and AU in the fall. My official at AU was a nightmare and I crossed it off my list. My official at GW was amazing and afterwards I was certain I wanted to go there however as time went on I grew less certain, GW was the last school I would hear back from.
I eliminated Providence early on, because I couldn’t participate in my sport there. If I had not wanted to be an athlete in college I definitely would have gone there.
In February my parents made me go visit Geneseo incase financially the private schools did not work out. I had it narrowed down to Loyola, Fordham, CUA (where I had been accpeted) and GW, Geneseo, Georgetown (waiting on). I was being heavily recruited and loved the location at CUA but it was just too much of a safety for me to feel comfortable there. Fordham would have been very destructive to my athletic career and I’ve grown up in and will probably spend the rest of my life in New York so I felt like I needed to leave for a while.
In early March I was accepted to Geneseo and I received notification from American that I would be receiving half-tuition which made it much more appealing. My parents also made me attend an official visit at Loyola, it wasn’t great but it didn’t dissuade me from going there.
I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going anywhere I couldn’t be an athlete and that it was more important for me to go to a Catholic school than somewhere better suited for my major. Before I even heard back from GW and G-town I decided to go to Loyola because it was the best option for me out of the Catholic schools athletically and financially. I could not have been an athlete at Georgetown so when I was rejected the blow was greatly softened by the fact that I wouldn’t have been happy there anyway. I was accepted to GW but already had my mind up.</p>
<p>I started researching schools online pretty early and visited a diverse group of schools in the spring of my junior year (to get a feel of what I really wanted in location, size, etc.). I was pretty sure I could be happy at most of the schools on my list (LAC’s), but I wanted to apply early somewhere and get the whole thing over with. I chose smith since I had a really good gut feeling both times I visited and had good conversations with both current students and alumnae. So I applied ED and lived happily ever after (hopefully).</p>
<p>I’ll keep my story short. My first choice at the beginning of my application process was Cornell with Pitt and Syracuse at close second and third respectively. After a visit (Which was amazing and a day after ED was due… 
) and some more research, I found that Cornell was basically unachievable and applied to it as a high reach. I decided to apply to Lehigh ED2 to keep a extremely prestigious school in contention (Which looking bad was a bad decision, luckily I was denied). As aforementioned denied from there. Went to visit Pitt before I found out from Syracuse and was almost sure I was gonna go there. But then Cuse’s decision came and I was accepted with great financial aid. After looking into it more, I chose Syracuse for its slightly better business program, facilities, and financial aid (With an added plus of a more campus-ey campus which I convinced myself was better than a city even though I always wanted to go to a city school.). Other schools in contention include BU and Tulane (Both of which I was waitlisted at and withdrew from), Binghamton and UDel (Great schools that offered less aid than Pitt and Cuse), UMass (Wasn’t a fan despite its incredibly cheap tuition because of my visit and the fact that much of my school goes there), and Drexel and Northeastern (Just wasn’t that into the 5 year thing).</p>
<p>CUSE '13 WOOO! GO ORANGE! (And that wasn’t short… oh well lol)</p>
<p>Step 1:I wanted to go to Yale (cause its the best college that starts with a y)
Step 2:Was accepted to Yale
Step 3: Chose to go to Yale
Step ?: Profit</p>
<p>Proximity to home, dad is an alum, grew up watching the football and basketball teams, had my major.</p>
<p>Pretty sure I was going to Penn -> Visited WUSTL, fell in love -> enrolled at WUSTL</p>
<p>When I was younger, I had always wanted to go to NYU. As I got older, I changed my mind because I wanted smaller schools…so my top choice became Barnard. I still toyed with the idea of NYU and visited and liked it a lot in April of my junior year…this put NYU back at the top of my list. After a summer program at Barnard, it was my top choice again. I was accepted to NYU. I was rejected at Barnard. After crying hardcore for about 2 and a half minutes, I had basically decided on NYU. NYU gave me my second best aid package (second to a safety school I had no desire to attend, but to which I was forced to apply by my parents). After a second visit, I sent my deposit in to NYU.</p>
<p>Lack of choices…accepted to only school of the ones I applied to</p>
<p>My two top choices (based on actual reasons) were Stanford and Princeton. I applied SCEA to Stanford and then RD to Princeton (and H for not-so-good reasons), got rejected) and got in.</p>
<p>I visited both previews and loved them, which made it more difficult. There were three considerations:</p>
<p>1) Student body – I realized that I was NOT a California person
2) Academic interests – both are excellent schools, but Princeton had the slight edge for my particular passions
3) Prestige – this one gave me pause; actually, it drove me crazy. I couldn’t pick which school I wanted because I was so caught up in which one had more prestige, up until I clicked the button. I still don’t know if I made the right choice based on this criterion.</p>
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<p>Absolutely absurd. It’s not like you were deciding between P/S or Oklahoma Panhandle State. Completely negligible between P and S.</p>
<p>I chose my schools and applied. Whilst waiting for the admissions decisions, I did more research on all of the colleges I had applied to. Through that process, I cut out half the schools.</p>
<p>After I got my admissions decisions, I went back to do some more research. I looked extensively at the curriculum and weighed the pros and cons of that, looked at the size, cost (adding in scholarships of course), distance from home…By the end of that, there were 3 schools left. I visited one, and liked it, but didn’t like how small it was (campus-wise really). I visited a second, and really loved it…so I didn’t even bother visiting the third school because it had a weaker curriculum and it would be more expensive. Decision made.</p>
<ol>
<li>I applied to all of the local schools. (Originally, proximity to home was a vital factor, but I now regret choosing my schools in such a manner.)</li>
<li>I got into my top choices: Northeastern, BU, and BC.</li>
<li>I realized that Northeastern was too expensive, so I scrapped that as a choice. This left BU and BC.</li>
<li>BC apparently had a “better” business program, so it was Eagles all the way!</li>
</ol>
<p>So, that was how I became an Eagle.</p>
<p>I always sort of assumed I would go to SMU. Got in and got some semblance of decent scholarships, but at the same time I was visiting other schools and kept an open mind. I realized that I really wanted to be exposed to something new and different for my undergrad, and I realized a lot of colleges have more college spirit than SMU. </p>
<p>There’s a difference in being proud of your Armani shirt (SMU), and being proud of a shirt with your school colors (anywhere else). </p>
<p>I loooved Michigan/Ann Arbor, but that didn’t work out. I went and visited a few schools in New England but I didn’t find many that I thought had a good combination of both fun college spirit AND serious academic programs, so I decided to shift my focus to decide which state flagship universities I liked best. I liked Michigan, OK State, Georgia, Kansas, and Iowa State a lot. </p>
<p>When I showed a little bit of interest in OK State they moved me from an admissions person to a “recruiter” who invited me to come see Stillwater. He gave me a personal campus tour of the massive, sprawled campus on a golf cart. I fell in love with the campus and Stillwater which seemed like the ideal college town. He gave my information to a council that determines who gets into the “President’s Leadership Council” which is a unique scholarship that takes the best 100 students out of 7,500 applicants based on leadership potential. It’s a leadership program that is designed to jet-set these students into leadership positions beginning their freshman year. After I got home I got a letter that I was accepted to the PLC, and then several fraternities offered to come down to Dallas to take me out to dinner in an attempt to A, sell me on OSU; and B, sell me on their house. </p>
<p>I decided I liked how they treated me, especially considering it’s been hard to differentiate myself as someone that’s done some really cool extra-curricular things from people just happen to have nice extra-curricular resume’s. I really appreciated that OSU gave me so much personal attention (especially considering they have 7,500 other applicants) because applying to colleges had become a pain in the ass…and so many of them had the most impersonal admissions process ever.</p>
<p>I shall preface with the fact that there have been two colleges that for all of my life, have been on my college list: Miami (Location & Athletics) and Georgia Tech (that’s where smart kids went)</p>
<p>Freshman in HS: Wanted to be a game programmer, planned on Full Sail or DigiPen
Sophomore in HS: Took Programming, hated it.
Rising Junior Summer: Visited UF, loved it.
Junior in HS: Decided I wanted to become an A&R at a record company, considered App St. and MTSU’s Music Industry programs. Also took Broadcasting and loved it.
Senior Summer: visited Penn, liked it, added to list.</p>
<p>SENIOR YEAR:
August: Decided I wanted to be a broadcast journalist. Luckily UGA is Top5 in that category, so I added them to my list, despite my hatred of bulldogs at the time. Applied to GA State and 'Bama as safeties.</p>
<p>September: Interview for Winthrop U. Was guaranteed a scholarship. Applied. Accepted to GA State and Bama. Applied to Auburn because my Mom made me >_></p>
<p>October: Applied to UGA EA. Applied to UF. Applied to Tech EA. Applied to Miami EA. Accepted to Auburn w/ Scholarship. Received free app from Drexel. Applied.</p>
<p>November: Applied to FSU and USC(SC) cuz my parents made me >_>. Deferred from UGA and GT. Accepted to Winthrop.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>I’m too tired to keep going.</p>
<p>March: Accepted to UGA, HOPE Scholarship.
April: Deposited $$</p>
<p>Congrats on going to UGA, rsxwhee. Athens is one of the best college towns I visited!</p>
<p>You guys are going down first game of the season, though.</p>
<p>Its always interesting to see what kids think of schools. Sometimes they are spot on the mark and other times way off the mark. But in the end, its a tough decision based on unclear facts (at that time for them). Good luck to everyone. </p>
<p>And remember, balance in your lives at college is key. Not too much of any one thing. And pace yourselves in school. The work load heats up considerably as the semester wears on. Have a schedule of when you will study and stick to it.</p>
<p>I had a lot of colleges in mind when applying. About three of my state schools, and five out of state schools. I got accepted to my university, and took a visit, just to get a feel for it, because I wasn’t set on going there. I fell in love. I didn’t want to see any other school and I was completely set that this school was perfect for my next four years. The advising, the community, the professors…everything was right for me. I can’t wait to start in the Fall. :)</p>