Initially, my goal was to try to get into a top-tier school. Back in my sophmore year, I was fairly naive about this and figured that I would find a #1, apply there ED, get in, and it would all be over. I comprised my list of just about every well-known private school east of the Mississippi River. My first college visits were to Duke and Davidson the summer after my sophomore year, and I felt like I really liked both. After also touring Vanderbilt and loving it, I was beginning to worry that I would just like everything, but then, I visited Emory. I felt like there was no school spirit and no one really loved being there. I would not realize this for a couple more years, but this would be a sign that I would not really like many smaller colleges (while Emory is not necessarily small, it does only have D3 sports).
By this point, I had also eliminated anything in a cold climate (defined by me as anything north of New York City). My next trip was to Haverford College, which, in addition to lacking school spirit, made me start thinking about another thing, politics, in my school search. Suffice it to say that it was too liberal for me.
Next, I toured a pair of Ivies, in Penn and Princeton. I really expected both to be near the top of my list, but I wound up liking Penn, but not Princeton, as it felt like people there were overly immersed in school work (to the exclusion of all other activities). For the next couple months, I would always say that my top four was Duke, Davidson, Vanderbilt, and Penn, in no particular order. Late that fall, I went up to Bucknell, expecting to not really like it, but I was pleasantly surprised with the campus and the programs that it offered. The big negative was how rural it is.
My search would continue, and I would add Richmond to the list to make the “Top Six”, which would last for all of one day before I toured Duke again and made it my clear #1. I also liked William & Mary enough to plan to apply there. I really thought that my list was done, and that Richmond and Bucknell would be my safety schools. I am really glad that I did not do that (a college admissions simulator has me as a 74% chance of acceptance at Richmond and a 58% one at Bucknell). Sometime over the summer, I decided that Tulane would also be a good fit and added it to my list.
In September, my college counselor told me that I was a National Merit Semifinalist (I now am a Finalist), something that I thought was nice, but I did not yet understand the impact that it would have on my search. My goal for the time being was to try to decide a second-choice between Richmond, Penn, and Vanderbilt, which had separated themselves from the pack in my mind. However, I always thought that I would get into Duke. In October (2013), I toured Richmond and Penn and decided that, while Penn has greater prestige (especially for Wharton), Richmond was a better fit, as they have an excellent program in International Business, a great community, a beautiful campus, and good enough sports. I said at the time that I would apply EDII to Richmond in the unlikely event that I would be rejected outright by Duke (I know that hubris sets up a fall, which would be coming).
Two months later, I went into Decision Day nervous, but excited, as I honestly did expect to celebrate that night. I had even already made celebration dinner reservations! Decisions were to be released at 6:00 PM, and I logged onto my portal a few minutes before that only to see a letter on the screen. As I read it, it became apparent that it was a rejection letter, but I reassured myself that it was only a cover and that the real (acceptance) letter would appear at 6:00. But, of course, it never did! That night, I was even thinking that I now had to choose where to go for one year before trying to transfer to Duke.
The week after my rejection brought two strange developments. First, I was deferred EA by Tulane, which I had been told was a complete safety school. I was already considering adding Rhodes College and F&M to my list as further safeties. Later that week, I got a letter from Oklahoma detailing their National Merit scholarship, which is a full-ride plus a few stipends, totaling $116,200. I kind of laughed it off at first, but then began to consider it more seriously as time passed.
Around Christmas, I began to look into whether any other reputable schools also offered those types of scholarships. I was very intrigued by South Carolina, which is ranked as the #1 school in the country for International Business. However, the school’s application deadline had already passed, so my application will only be “considered if space is available”. When I told my college counselor that I would apply to South Carolina and Oklahoma, in addition to Miami, which my dad wanted me to apply to (but now seems like a reasonable possibility), I expected her to be confused, but she instead recommended that I look at Alabama, which offers an even larger scholarship than Oklahoma does, and which she has always been impressed with. They also have a very strong honors college (with automatic admission to National Merit Finalists), which makes it feel smaller.
I was now unsure about applying anywhere else, including Rhodes and Franklin & Marshall, up until their application deadlines. On January 15th (the deadlines for many schools), I looked through everything to make sure that I was not overlooking any school. My mom really liked a program at Kentucky and Drexel (both schools offer full scholarships to National Merit Finalists), and I caved in and applied to both, even though I had big concerns about both schools. For UK, I thought that I could not bring myself to root for their basketball team (the only thing harder would have been UNC); for Drexel, my worry was that it does not have a traditional campus or school community (as students are on and off campus for co-ops). I did go through with applying to Rhodes and F&M as well. Late that night, wanting something else, I, on a whim, applied to Baylor, which also offers a full scholarship to National Merit Finalists.
Soon after that, I went to tour Drexel and F&M. While I still do have those concerns about Drexel, I was very impressed with the school itself (it has a good, internationally focused business school) with great job preparation. To be clear, I am definitely willing to study Econ and Spanish at a college with a good reputation for having those programs lead to what I want (ex. Duke and Vandy) or partake in a separate business school. F&M wound up being my last straw for small liberal arts colleges. They just tend to not have the same opportunities or student life as medium and large universities. Richmond definitely feels big enough, but it feels bigger than most colleges of 4000 undergrads. Anyway, I decided to stop considering Rhodes and slightly lower Davidson (which has a great community and great traditions) as a result of that visit. There may also be a too big, but I have not yet toured any of the big state schools. I am going to Alabama this Saturday, so I should have a better idea after that.
If anyone is still reading this, I have a lot of choices to make, as I, to use basketball metaphors, loaded my schedule with cupcakes. I now have acceptances to Alabama, Baylor, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tulane (after the deferral), and Drexel. My top three are Vanderbilt, Richmond, and Penn, possibly in that order, although it is not firm at all right now. I also really like Tulane on paper, and Alabama seems like the best bet of the National Merit schools, but I have to see both of them. After that, it really is jumbled and unclear. Anyway, it has been a fun search with, when all is said and done, close to 30 college visits, and lots of decisions.
Thanks for keeping us updated with your decision process. This thread is a must-read for juniors and seniors , counselors , and parents .