One Of The Toughest Decisions In Life: Choosing The “Right” College
Briana explains how her college search brought her to the college of her choice.
I am going to be completely honest. When I was a senior in high school around this time I had no idea what college I wanted to attend and I had little to no idea what I wanted to major in. I knew I wanted to go to college, of course, but I felt the weight of trying to find the “perfect college.” I soon realized that a “perfect college” does not exist and the college experience is truly what you personally make of it.
I started my college search early – the summer before my senior year in high school. I made a list of schools that I was interested in. They ranged greatly from a small Catholic college in the suburbs to a large urban university in the heart of the Manhattan. When I tell you this list was extremely long, it was. Of course applying to every college on that list would have cost a fortune and would have been very time consuming, so I decided to research the schools on my list and narrow down my options. Even after spending many hours researching colleges, my final list still consisted of 10 schools. I decided to apply to all 10 and just see what would happen (by no means do I endorse this!) . To my surprise, I was accepted to 9 out of the 10 schools.
As I visited each of the colleges that I was accepted to, I realized that there were things that I liked about each one and things that I truly disliked – some colleges were just too small or did not offer the program I was interested in. I began to realize that my crazy notion of finding the perfect college was unrealistic.
The day before the deadline (which I also do not endorse doing!), I settled on attending Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ –due to its proximity to my home since I would be a commuter, its high- ranking communications program, the class sizes and the overall prestige of the university.
Now almost three years out of college, I realize I made the right choice by attending Seton Hall. I really can say I received a well-rounded education and had a lot of opportunities handed to me by being a Seton Hall Pirate and now a Seton Hall alumnus. Of course, every day at Seton Hall wasn’t sunshine and rainbows but I tried to step out of my comfort zone. I made it a point to meet new people and network as much as possible.
Deciding what college to attend is probably one of the most difficult decisions that a young adult has to make but remember that your college experience depends greatly on you and how you use your time while being there!
Briana is the Director of Social Media for RBTM. When she is not blogging, tweeting or "facebooking" you can find Briana at the mall shopping with her best friends, hanging out with her family or taking a dance class. She is absolutely in love with her guinea pig William Simon.
