<p>If I'm not constrained by financial issues, and I have three very good schools to choose from, how do I choose?</p>
<p>Do I choose the academically superior school with the great reputation that I feel is too big and too far away, and where I didn't get a great feel?</p>
<p>Do I choose the other prestigious school that is two towns away from my home (way too close)?</p>
<p>Do I choose the school with a rampant reputation for radical feminism and lesbianism that is equal in academic rigor to my second school on this list, where I feel completely at home?</p>
<p>AHHHHHHHH!
Any advice?</p>
<p>Duh. You choose the school where you feel completely at home, especially considering that it’s equal in academic rigor to your second choice! Why would you NOT choose the school that has the best fit?</p>
<p>Just toss that first school off the list. You didn’t get a great feel there? It’s too big and too far away for you? Forget it.</p>
<p>The second school sounds like a nice school, but if you have a third that matches it for rigor, and exceeds it for fit … well, why choose this second over the third?</p>
<p>I can’t tell if the reputation for radical feminism and lesbianism at the third school is a good thing or a bad thing for you. If it’s a good thing … jeez, what’s the question? Why is this not easy for you?</p>
<p>My guess … because you’re tempted by society’s definition of what you should be striving for. You question yourself for wanting to turn down that prestige. Forget that.</p>
<p>You find out who you are, and then you set your eye on the prize that will make you feel happy. It sounds like you might already know who you are. If so, you’re a step ahead of many of your peers.</p>
<p>Lucky you, you have a nice college option that fits who you are. Go for it!</p>
<p>I definitely agree… go for the one that YOU like best. That’s where you’ll be happiest.</p>
<p>I’m just concerned about the reputation at that school. Like, I’m a feminist lesbian, but… I don’t want that to be what people immediately think when they find out where I go to school. Like “oh, she goes to school X. She must be a radical feminist and a lesbian.” I will feel like I have to defend my school and say “well, not everyone there is a feminist lesbian!” and they’ll be like “well, aren’t you?” and I’ll feel bad about myself. I don’t know if that explanation will make any sense to anyone who isn’t gay…</p>
<p>No, I understand your concern, but I think that while it may make announcing your college decision a bit weird to, say, family members, that in and of itself is not worthing turning down a school you really love. There’s NO reason to feel bad about going to a school where you feel comfortable, honestly.</p>
<p>It’s not that it will be weird… It’s that I will feel like a big old lesbian. I mean, I love being who I am, but am I willing to have a name pasted on me for the rest of my life that screams “I am the gayest”?</p>
<p>What schools are we talking about? That would help a great deal.</p>
<p>“I don’t want that to be what people immediately think when they find out where I go to school. Like “oh, she goes to school X. She must be a radical feminist and a lesbian.””</p>
<p>I promise you that nobody outside of high school aged people will care :)</p>
<p>Go wherever you like best. If you like the radical lesbian college best, then that’s the one for you.</p>
<p>@vociferous: I don’t want to say which schools because that will color people’s judgement of them. I really just want you guys to see what I see and not what you see.</p>
<p>@portugueseninja: I don’t think that’s true. Apparantly all of my dad’s co-workers have had a strong negative reaction when he tells them that I applied to that school, and we live in a super liberal area.</p>
<p>^Then they clearly don’t understand the idea of “fit.”</p>
<p>If you fit in best at that college (and I think I know which one you’re taking about), then go for it. You’ll have a fantastic four years at a place you truly feel at home, which, in my mind, is far better than four so-so years at the place that is “less awkward” to admit you attend.</p>
<p>When it comes down to it, your college choice is ultimately yours. Your neighbors in your super liberal area and your dad’s coworkers aren’t going to be the ones attending, and what they think doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Do what makes you happy. Take the direction you want. Let them be negative; you’ll know you made the right choice no matter what they say.</p>