I made the wrong college choice...

<p>So I'm still a prefrosh but I'm almost certain that I've made the wrong college choice. I'm attending a top 3 LAC in the fall after passing it over my second choice, which was an bigger, more urban Ivy league school. I just started agonizing over it, which is surprising because when I was deciding which school to attend it was a rather simple process, or at least I thought. I guess I've just reached the conclusion that I should have chosen the other school - it was a better fit, more my size, more my location, more my course of study. I feel miserable and desperately wish I could take back my choice...:( is there anything I could do to remedy this situation? i've contemplated begging to be let into the other school but I'm sure it's too late.....oh well</p>

<p>If the choice was that close, try not to worry about it. I suggest you focus and invest totally in your LAC for now and, if despite that, you have second thoughts later on, you can probably transfer, esp. if you have a good record frosh year. Good luck, and try to enjoy where you are in the moment.</p>

<p>I suggest that you just relax, and start getting really into the LAC you chose. Buy some paraphernalia, go onto the website, find online communities where those students are. Throw out the other school’s paraphernalia (and any other college booklets and viewbooks you may still have).</p>

<p>You only have a month and a half until school starts, roughly. Nine times out of ten, these are just cold feet jitters and everything clears up once you get to college – and you’ll have a blast! Just focus on doing well your freshman year and daydream about that school.</p>

<p>My hunch is that you’re simply getting cold feet. I’ve seen it in lots of students: a kind of buyer’s remorse that includes everything from “I picked the wrong school” and “why on earth didn’t I apply to more schools (or to school x, y or z)” to “I don’t even know if I WANT to go to college next year.”</p>

<p>My advice is to try NOT to second guess yourself, and instead focus on all the things that had you excited about your final choice in the first place. Read up about the area around it, about its faculty, about its alums. A top 3 LAC will offer a world of intellectual opportunities and the promise of exciting friendships and adventures. You’re about to embark on the time of your life. But for now, focus on the fun ahead, read some fun books, hang out with high school friends. You’ll be fine. Trust me on this.</p>

<p>Are you sure this isn’t just a simple case of the grass-is-greener syndrome?</p>

<p>Do you often second guess your decisions? Gotta accept responsibility for your decisions and have confidence you made the right choice or you will torment yourself for every choice you’ll make in life. Paper or plastic…I can’t decide! They’re both good!</p>

<p>Thanks for your responses and suggestions guys, I really appreciate it. I’ll try not to agonize over it too much and if I really don’t like it I suppose i can always transfer…:/</p>

<p>You are getting cold feet. Just wait until you are in the middle of your first semester and you wonder if you should even be in college or if you are giving up too much to be there. Don’t worry, it passes.</p>

<p>You’re just anxious. You have no way of really knowing which choice is better for you, because you haven’t been a student at either. You chose your school for good reasons, and I suspect that once you’re immersed in school work and commiserating with new friends, you will wonder how you ever could have thought you made a mistake in choosing your school. Relax, it will all work out and you’ll be glad you’re there and not somewhere else!</p>

<p>I had very similar feelings as you. In fact, I still get twinges of regret every now and then. To be honest, I’m downright bipolar about my choice. But I’ve come to realize that whats done is done, and worrying about what could have been is futile. I’m waiting for school to start, and if I still get negative feelings, I can try transferring. I second what previous posters have said about buying paraphernalia, reading up on the school, etc. It does feel like a rip off that after the agonizing application process, everybody can’t all be completely satisfied, but we might as well make the best of it.</p>

<p>good luck wherever you go. A top 3 lac will certainly open doors for you, and probably be a fantastic experience.</p>

<p>back when you chose your school, you presumably chose it for a reason. so trust your own judgment.</p>

<p>You’re attending a Top 3 LAC. You’ll be just fine. Maybe you should spend less time on this Ivy League obsessed website.</p>

<p>I think a lot of people probably second guess themselves after selecting a college…so i think you should give it a chance, and the whole freaking out may pass. BUT, if it doesn’t, and you are just completely certain that you chose the wrong school, try asking your guidance counselor if there’s anything to do about the situation. i don’t know if this would be possible, but really, give it some time for your nervousness to pass. make sure to attend orientation day for your LAC so you can feel more comfortable. and if worst comes to worst, and you hate it, maybe you can transfer. but i think you’re just nervous…try looking up bad things about the other college that you didn’t select to make yourself feel better lol</p>

<p>What made you choose the LAC over the Ivy in the first place?</p>

<p>Like you said, if you hate it you can always transfer. Just go in with a good, open attitude because if you don’t, you most likely will end up hating it.</p>

<p>@ OP:</p>

<p>I’m also an incoming college freshman, and I went through this “second thought crisis” at this time last month. For me, it came down to Rice, Duke, and Emory, which were all schools I loved in different ways… there was no clear top choice. Nevertheless, I decided that I wanted a smaller school that focused on undergraduates, so I decided upon Rice (plus the scholarship was a big incentive too). I was fine the first week after I made the decision (AP week), but then I had second thoughts about turning down Duke the next two weeks. Afterward, I had REALLY BAD second thoughts about turning down Emory for a month, so much so that I felt somewhat depressed. Now it is all good, but occasionally, the second thoughts come back to haunt me.</p>

<p>My second thoughts about Emory were for the EXACT same reasons as they were for you. Emory offered a stronger environmental science major than Rice. I also began to feel that Emory was a better fit, more of my size, and better location as well (I like Atlanta a little bit better than Houston, but I’ve only been to Houston once). </p>

<p>I posted on this board a month ago, and the posters all said the same things about my similar dilemma. But what they say makes sense. You realize what you gave up, but you don’t know what you are getting yourself into. My counselor also told me that this sort of panic and worry is normal because we both just made a decision that will greatly affect the course of our lives. But like I chose Rice, you chose your LAC for good reasons; I’m sure you didn’t take this process lightly back in April. Get excited about your college, recycle your the other college literature you received, buy t-shirts with your LAC’s name, put your school’s window decal on your car, and this will ease up some of the second thoughts. I was very seriously contemplating calling Duke or Emory up and asking them to take me in, but I decided I need to give Rice a chance. I know, deep down, that is where I should go for college. In your shoes, I would keep an open-mind and give your LAC a chance. If you don’t like it, transfer.</p>

<p>It will be interesting to see what we both think a year from now about all of this.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all of your responses - I’m beginning to feel a bit better about the situation just based on this. To the person who asked why I chose the LAC in the first place because I (at least thought that I) wanted a more intimate college environment - a close community of people devoted to teaching and learning in a rural-ish environment. I wanted to be somewhere where the emphasis was on undergraduates and where I would really learn and love my classes. I had to give up (well not completely, there’s still the ability to take classes it at a nearby university) a particular academic interest but was offered a place in a very selective scholar program. Now I’m beginning to think I’m gonna get claustrophobic after the first semester and feel kind of holed in, whereas at the Ivy university I would have really boundless academic and extracurricular opportunities. The prestige side of the whole college game is coming into play now a bit, I didn’t really consider it too too much when initially choosing, but when people give me puzzled looks or think that I’m going to the state university (in the same town) it’s a bit discouraging. And to the poster going to Rice - I’m curious too, although I do hope it works out well for the both of us! I suppose going into it with a really positive outlook and then if that fails thinking about transferring would be the best option. Thanks again all.</p>

<p>We’re talking Amherst vs. Brown here, right? If that (or something similar) is the case I say relax. Amherst is a great school. I bet after two months there you will be loving it so much you’ll thinking “Brown who? What was I thinking?” </p>

<p>You’ll never be held back in life for having a degree from one of the top three LACs in the US. It can take you anywhere.</p>

<p>Close, Amherst vs. Columbia. If I had only gotten into Brown this situation would be a lot easier ;)</p>

<p>Amherst is a great school. Embrace this opportunity; you’ll never regret it again!</p>

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<p>Okay, then after two months at Amherst you will be saying “Columbia who? What was I thinking?”</p>