Making difficult college decisions

Becoming an upperclassman comes with the stress of looking at colleges and figuring out what to do with the next chapter of life. Although some people might know where they want to go their whole lives, the majority have no idea. I was definitely one of those people. I barely even allowed myself to think about college my junior year because the thought of it stressed me out. I am someone who does things last minute so thinking about such a hard decision I had to make was not on my mind until the summer before senior year. At the beginning of summer, I constantly thought about how I needed to get in as many college tours as possible before my senior year started. The first tour I went on was at Kent State University with my mom. I remember feeling the excitement rushing through my body, knowing that the following year I might be in this very place. As my mom and I walked through the tour and looked at the different dorm rooms, I had a really good feeling this could be the school for me. After the tour was done, I grabbed the packet that was handed to me at the start and looked at everything Kent had to offer. All of the majors and different clubs made me feel really good about this place without any feelings of regret. Once the school year started, everyone told me what I should and shouldn’t do. For instance, almost everyone told me not to go to a college that’s close to home. Many would say, “if you don’t move far away now, you will regret it later on in life” or “don’t room with anyone you know because you won’t meet any new people.” With everyone telling me these things, I kept swaying back and forth with other places like Ohio University, Miami University, and University of Cincinnati.
In September, I toured Ohio University and did not feel the same as when I toured Kent. It was a rainy and glum day, which matched my lack of enthusiasm for the campus itself. As we walked into the cafe to get something to eat, I remember just feeling very off. I had so much anxiety and just didn’t feel right. Now looking back on that moment, I realized that it was my gut telling me that this school was not right for me. I kept trying to convince myself that I wanted to go there as much as everyone else did. I soon realized that I need to go where I think is a good fit for me and that what I choose to do might not be the same as what other people want and that’s okay. I did 3D tours of other schools online and although many of them had beautiful campuses and other good qualities, they still did not give me the feeling I got when I toured Kent.
Despite everyone saying I should go far from home, I like the aspect of closeness that Kent has. It was the perfect distance for me. Kent is 45 minutes away from my house so it was not too close to home, but also not too far. A lot of the other schools I liked were three to four hours away, which would be a huge challenge for me. I knew that I would go home when I needed to, but I would not be home all the time or what would be the point of going to college on campus. I wanted to be a quick drive home to my mom if I needed to and that’s okay. A few weeks before school started, I also drove and went to a few places in downtown Kent with my friend who was about to start her senior year there. I loved everything about it and felt even more sure about this school. When I toured other schools they were just not good for my personality and were not what I wanted. There are so many good qualities about each college I looked at, which made it a very hard choice when it came down to it, but I knew in my heart where I wanted to go. I’m also rooming with someone I know from school and I could not be any happier. If I could give advice to anyone it would be to tour as many places as you can and figure out what qualities you want from a college. Don’t listen to anyone else, just listen to yourself and do what feels right for you.