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Go with your gut reaction!

Apr 28 '01 (Updated Sep 22 '02) Write an essay on this topic.

The Bottom Line Go with your gut reaction; talk to as many students as possible; stay overnight; go to parties

If you are lucky enough to have been accepted to more than one school, you are going to have to make a decision. In my experience, most people I have talked to are happy at whatever school they choose. I don't know if this is because all of my friends are good at making decisions, or most colleges are virtually the same. But there are some crucial differences that you should look out for.

I think that colleges differ in many respects and you have to rank what attributes you find most important. For example, maybe you think that location is most important, followed by quality of the English department. Or maybe you want to attend a school that has the best parties and your second highest priority is that the school must have a beautiful campus. Whatever your reasons for choosing to matriculate, you should be clear and decisive once you make your choice.

The most important thing to consider is whether or not you could picture yourself at the school. If you are choosing whether or not to attend a certain school, schedule an overnight visit with a student. Hang out with his/her friends and (if you can) other groups of students, as well. As scary as it might sound, you should walk around without your host and talk to people who are not necessarily friends of your host, so that you can get a better idea of the diversity of the student body. If you are too shy to strike up a conversation with students, you can still get a good idea of what the social scene is like just by observing conversations and reading the flyers advertising upcoming events.

Don't be afraid to let your host know what you want to do. Believe me, your host wants you to be decisive! I have hosted prospective students and if they don't express a preference of activities, I worry the whole time that they are not having a good time, but are just being too polite to say so.

When I stayed at Wesleyan (the school that I attend) as a "pre-frosh," my host was planning on going to a play with her friends. I wasn't interested in going with them, so I told her that I wanted to go out to parties. She passed me off to other people she knew, and I had a great time. (Check out my review on Wesleyan itself.)

Overall, relax and have a good time. If you are having a really difficult time deciding between two schools, it is probably because you would be happy at either one. Don't be afraid to listen to your gut reaction. Go to the school where you felt most comfortable. You will know it when you find it. After my overnight at Wesleyan, I bought a sweatshirt before heading to my next overnight destination. I can't really explain why, but I knew that I would have a great time as a Wesleyan student. I just felt at ease with the students I spent time with there.

Guidebooks are a good way to start as they give an overall portrait of the schools. However, they do not always represent the diverse opinions of the student body and may not address the issues that you find most important. It is crucial to go visit a university before you decide to spend the next four years of your life.

Talk to students and find out what their biggest grievance is about the campus. If the only thing they complain about is the food, chances are they are pretty happy overall. College food is never particularly good! However, if they complain that there is no social life, that is a much bigger problem. Also, try to speak to some upper-classmen since freshman are often in a state of euphoria at being away from their parents and everything seems wonderful.

If you can, sit in on some classes to get an idea of how intelligent the student body is and the quality of discussion. Browse through the course catalog and think about what classes you would want to take. Also, ask around to find out how much time students spend studying (you don't want all of your classmates to be work-aholics!), which departments are strongest, and whether or not you are required to write a thesis or take science classes. Some schools have classes that are required for freshman. One of the reasons I chose Wesleyan was that it had the largest number of courses of the schools I was looking at and no required courses.

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