How I Picked My College

Throughout the last year, I’ve spent countless hours thinking about where I want to go to college. I’ve created Pinterest boards filled with every detail of how I plan to decorate my room, and I’ve imagined what it would feel like to step on the campus of my new home for the first time. Now that it’s April of my senior year, making this big decision is much more grey than I ever thought it would be, but in hopes that my journey could be helpful for others, I’ve decided to share some aspects that have made this decision easier. 

Prior to my junior year I was attached to going to college in Washington D.C., or at least on the East Coast. My dad, who was born and raised in Maryland liked this idea, and early on I was introduced to The University of Maryland, just about an hour outside of Washington D.C. 

This school was early on a great option for me, it was on the East Coast, in D.C. and was in a state that I have family in. Even with this solid option, I wanted to continue looking for other options. During the spring break of my junior year, my dad and I flew to Boston, and then drove our way down to North Carolina, stopping at over 20 schools along the way. 

2025 Road Trip: April 2025 trip, which included some of the locations we visited.

This trip was the most valuable aspect of my college decision process. On average I saw more than two schools a day, experiencing the many types of schools the East Coast has to offer. I saw everything from smaller liberal arts colleges, like Connecticut College, to traditional Big 10 schools like Rutgers University, to urban campuses like New York University, and George Washington University.

I realized that I didn’t yet know the factors that were most important to me on a campus. I liked the urban schools as much as I liked the ones that were in the middle of nowhere, like Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pa..

During this time, all juniors had begun meeting with their college counselors, and so I met with Cecilia Perkins, College Counseling Department, a few times at the end of my junior year. I began creating my list of schools in Maia Learning, which mostly were influenced by the places I had recently visited, and a few California schools as well. I think at its highest, my list had over 30 schools and if each application didn’t require hours of work, I probably would’ve applied to them all. 

I left my junior year with a first draft of my Common Application main essay, but got even more work done the first week of summer, which I spent at Notre Dame for the College Counseling Workshop. This too was a very helpful experience in which I learned more about all the types of essays I would be writing, and how to stay organized in all the chaos of applications. 

After this week I didn’t focus on my applications again until August, which was very nice because it felt like I had gotten a head start, and would be able to have a more relaxing summer. 

As soon as school started I became very overwhelmed; to be honest, I don’t know anyone who wasn’t overwhelmed. In my case I had volleyball practice everyday after school, and more homework than I expected, leaving me just the weekends to work on my applications.  

Since I mostly was applying out of state, Aug. 1 was the day that my applications opened, and out of my 23 schools I applied to, 12 were due on Nov. 1. It might seem like a lot of time, but when you’re a senior with at least five other things to focus on, time management is difficult, and staying on track is a daunting task. 

It took a lot of hardwork, but I got all my early applications done a few days before they were due and was relieved to be submitting them on time. With this wave of applications done, I still had 11 schools to apply to, but I ended up being able to reuse parts of my essays for multiple schools. 

No matter what happens, the time will pass, and quickly it did. On Jan. 15, 2026 I submitted my last college application, and so began the time of waiting. While I had received my first acceptance in October, from a school that offered rolling admissions, it was still very stressful counting down the days. 

Still though, the time passed, which brought me to March. I received my last college decision on March 28, 2026, and had just a month to decide where to go.

My options were narrowed down to six schools; they were all on the East Coast and I was excited because each one had a different aspect I had fallen in love with when I toured my schools back in 2025. By March my list was New York University, Syracuse University, American University, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Boston University and the first school I wanted to attend, the University of Maryland. 

Looking at the list of the opportunities I had was the moment when things turned grey. I realized that each school truly would give me a different college experience, and despite thinking I knew, I still had no idea what was most important to me. 

May 1. It is the day that colleges require deposits and is widely known as decision day. It felt like that day was creeping up on me. Just talking about college with fellow seniors, or my family would stress me out. 

It finally changed when I went to visit two schools I never got to see back in 2025, Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In full transparency, I quickly realized I didn’t like Wisconsin. When I figured out I didn’t like it because it was such a large school, it made it easier to take other schools off my list.

What really ended up being helpful in making my decision was seeing Syracuse University. It's about a four hour drive from New York City, and it has great programs for my majors, journalism, and political science. 

I toured the Newhouse School of Public Communication, and instantaneously fell in love with Syracuse. 

My biggest piece of advice for those who have to make a decision, whether it is college related or not, is to visit it in whatever way you can. While I was fortunately able to visit all the schools I was considering, there are so many ways to learn more about a school. 

What has become very important to me in the realm of college, and making that big decision, is that it's not permanent, there are always options to change your major, program and even the school. I’m going into next year with the best hopes for what I now imagine will be the best four years of my life, and I can't wait to get started.