Did anyone get their acceptance letters and feel so overwhelmed by the decision that they waited too long?! Or had two deposits in at two different schools? Or missed the deadline entirely?
Whatever you do, don’t allow yourself to get paralyzed by your choices. After all the work it takes to get college acceptances (including not only the application process but all the work throughout HS) it would be irresponsible to squander your opprotunity by not deciding on time or double depositing (which can lead to both acceptances being rescinded). You need to handle your acceptances in a logical manner with the deadline in mind. Some things my S did.
-Go through the acceptances and say no to any schools that were not affordable
-Go through the remaining schools and select the top two or three choices. Say no to the others.
-We revisited his top school choices for accepted students day. If it is possible to make these visits it can be a good idea. If not, go through your notes etc. on each school.
-Then make a choice, send a deposit, buy a hoodie for your new college, and never look back.
Growing up I did have one friend who could not choose between two schools. Finally, her exasperated mom wrote out a check as a deposit for the two schools, put them in two addressed envelopes each with the required forms for that school, sent my friend out and told her not to come home until she put one (and only one) envelope into the mailbox at the corner. So after walking around the block a few times my friend finally picked a school, put a deposit in the mail and was very happy there.
I was actually really scared the day prior to Ivy decisions because i had only gotten into my safeties, and was on a plane ride internationally and wouldn’t get my Ivy decisions for 12 hours after. When my plane made its first stop to transfer, I borrowed my friends phone and called my parents as they already saw the decisions. Rejected Princeton, Waitlisted UPenn and…ACCEPTED Cornell; I was so happy, I actually declined the waitlist for UPenn as soon as I could (probably not the best idea, could’ve seen if I had gotten in). I was just happy to have gotten in to one of my top choices after getting rejected from my dream school of MIT and feeling at a low ever since.
Granted, nothing horrible occurred prior to my first semester and I got all my payments and admissions stuff in on time. I don’t know why, but for the first week I was HORRIFIED of the swim test. I had anxiety, couldn’t eat etc. When I took it during O-week…I bombed and felt horrible; I just laid in bed for three hours feeling like literal doodoo. After that tho, I just decided to take the swim class; was a great experience, passed the swim test two weeks in without breaking nearly as much a sweat as I had my first run, made new friends and realized the college experience is what you make it out to be. If you’re scared, then you won’t enjoy it to the fullest.