<p>"Doesn't Boston have the most colleges of any city? Harvard, BU, BC, Tufts, Emerson..."</p>
<p>BU, BC, and Emerson were honestly not worth going to (I don't mean to be condescending...but I'd pay $3000 a year at McGill before paying $40k+ to go to those schools)...Tufts wasn't for me. I didn't take chem/physics, so no point applying to MIT.</p>
<p>To answer the original question, I just went around visiting schools until I found the one that I knew was right for me. First, I thought it might be Tufts. Then I thought it was Brown, then Dartmouth. Then, I thought for sure I wanted to go to Vanderbilt. But as soon as I set foot on UVa's campus in my junior year of HS, I was done. And I never changed my mind. :)</p>
<p>You were semiserious about your top choice colleges until you found UVa. ;)</p>
<p>Hm. I wanted to go to UCB for the longest time (okay, since freshman year-- I can't top those of you who have wanted to go to Harvard since 8th grade! I don't even think I knew what college was then ><), but over the summer I realized that although I liked competition, I probably couldn't handle the all-the-time competition I hear about so much at UCB. Plus, the sheer size was kind of a drawback-- I opted for a much smaller, more personal school where you'll see people you know every day but still see new people all the time (Wesleyan U in Conn).</p>
<p>UCSD was my top school for a long time. But when I actually started researching colleges I realized it didn't have anything I wanted in my dream college. </p>
<p>Now I like UCSB, UMiami, UCLA, and UW-Madison. I'm not sure which is my complete favorite, but I'm getting closer to my true #1</p>
<p>this sounds kinda dumb now, but when i was in junior high i used to say Stanford because in my little 8th grade mind 1) i knew it was an ok school...and the biggie 2) Tiger Woods went there. i was avidly into golf then (and i gotta say...i wasn't too bad at it :D).</p>
<p>i might've had a good chance at Stanford, but when i did my college searches, it didn't have everything i wanted out of a college experience. so now i'm going to USC <em>woo</em>.</p>
<p>When I was in middle school, my top school was NYU just because I thought New York was so great. My dad used to work in the city and we'd go to this restaurant in the village and he'd point out NYU flags/buildings and say, "You might go there someday!"</p>
<p>Then I grew up and thought about the kind of environment I wanted. I fell in love with Swarthmore until I visited. I just got a terrible vibe from the people for some reason.</p>
<p>Now I have a couple top choices, but I feel like discussing it jinxes it, haha.</p>
<p>I wanted to go to Columbia for a long time but then I suddenly realized that even if I did get accepted, I wouldn't go because my parents would be against it and it would probably be too expensive. And I started getting scared that I wouldn't get accepted.</p>
<p>I applied SCEA to Stanford, but when the regular decisions rolled around, I had a change of heart and decided to attend Harvard. Stanford is just too familiar; too close to home and all that jazz.</p>
<p>
BU, BC, and Emerson were honestly not worth going to (I don't mean to be condescending...but I'd pay $3000 a year at McGill before paying $40k+ to go to those schools)...Tufts wasn't for me. I didn't take chem/physics, so no point applying to MIT.
</p>
<p>you never took any chem or physics classes in high school at all? almost everybody takes atleast chem</p>
<p>My top choice was columbia.</p>
<p>Then I realized, that although I like visiting NYC, I wouldn't want to live there for four years, plus the core would eat up all my electives as an engineering major.</p>
<p>I ended up at Cornell, and couldn't be happier.</p>
<p>my first choice was UCLA but i dunno why i chose Cal in the end...sigh</p>
<p>My first choice was Ohio State University.</p>
<p>And then I got into MIT.</p>
<p>My top choice has always been Columbia, however throughout high school i didnt think i had the qualifications for it, so it's been NYU all along. However, I attended the Columbia summer program and it only comfirmed that there isnt a school out there more perfect for me. So for the longest time it's been Columbia. I'll be attending NYU next year and im very satisfied with the results of the admissions process</p>
<p>I always thought I wanted to go to a small university/LAC in the Northeast. So I applied to a bunch of schools like Princeton, Williams, Amherst, and Dartmouth. I also applied to Notre Dame EA as a "safety" school on the suggestion of my parents. As time went on, I fell more and more in love with Notre Dame, but thought that I should still go to an Ivy League school or a top LAC. But after considering my choices (which, after the admissions round were narrowed to Amherst and Dartmouth) and taking another college trip and visiting Dartmouth, I realized that it just wasn't the type of school for me. It was far too focused on partying and just couldn't compete with everything I had grown to love about Notre Dame. So I went with my gut instinct, and I will be attending Notre Dame in the fall.</p>
<p>Gave up going to Yale for Northwestern.</p>
<p>Location: CHICAGO! Campus atmosphere at NU better suits me than it seemed at Yale. </p>
<p>I love Chicago and NU, and I'd do it again if it were still 2003! :)</p>
<p>My cousin had his heart set on Columbia, and got in along with Brown and Dartmouth wihch he also loved and some of his best friends went to, but then went to Duke because he made out with a girl while he was visiting. At least thats what I think.</p>
<p>When I was little I thought for the longest time, just because both my parents and both my older brothers went there, that I'd end up at UMass. And then I discovered I am smarter than them ;-) and I have a fighting chance for getting into places like Brown, Columbia, maybe even Harvard. So my top right now is Harvard, not because of the prestige but because it really does have the best programs for me. Then Amherst (I grew up there; once a townie, always a townie), Columbia, and Brown.</p>
<p>Had my heart set on UMichigan.
Visited and thought that I could do better.</p>
<p>I never had a first choice before the whole college process, but after visiting and stuff I found one. Applying ED there, so it's not gonna change :P</p>