Last year, I witnessed all of my friends panicking about their college decisions and thought nothing of it. This year came around and it hit me, I am now the one panicking about my future.
It is bad enough that seniors already have pressure from families and friends about where to attend college. I am almost positive the University of Kansas has used an entire trees worth of paper sending me letters and packets trying to get me interested in their school. Also Drake University has been blowing up my email with constant messages stating that I am a choice student. I have recently decided colleges will do absolutely anything to make sure students know about them.
It amazes me what level colleges and universities will go to these days to get students interested in their school. Whether it involves them giving you free items on a campus visit, allowing you to apply without paying the application fee, or even just exaggerating the qualities of their school.
Before this year, I never understood why seniors procrastinated and waited until the last minute to start looking into where they want to go to college. Sadly, I have become one of those seniors because I was looking at schools I want to go to, but are unrealistic. Now that I am going through the stress of having to decide on a realistic choice, I look back and fully regret signing up for information from every college I heard of or spoke with.
There are plenty of reasons why I am regretting my past choices on college preparations. My main problem, I still continue to receive ads, letters and emails from these schools I will never be attending.
Within the past few months, it has slowly become easier to narrow down my realistic choices of where I will be attending college next year. I liked conducting campus visits in our area to see the people who genuinely care about the college they are attending, and I learned that when they find the school that is right for them, it just clicks and it becomes progressively more difficult to change their mind.
Students who attend college within the next couple of years should learn from my mistakes and not stress themselves by receiving information from every college in the country. They should decide between three to five schools they are truly considering and focus on finding out more about those specific colleges. They should also start looking early.
It is never too early to begin looking into colleges. Students should not procrastinate because it adds stress to what should be a fun experience. It may seem difficult at first to try and juggle college decisions with high school, but the earlier students begin, the easier it will be to make a correct decision that will help you succeed in the future with less stress.