As a current freshman, the college application process was almost exactly a year ago. There were tears of joy and of disappointment from both my peers and myself. The entire roller coaster of emotion experienced during senior year of high school, looking back now, was completely worth it though, because I learned so much about myself.
Starting out, junior year, I remember having absolutely no idea where I wanted to go. I was applying to every university undeclared, so specific programs at one school versus another didn’t concern me. I wrote my Common App essay in one sitting on a Sunday; I talked about my love for art and teaching it over the summer at a camp. I tried a couple of other times to write something different, but that was the essay that stuck. My parents were very good about remaining unbiased, wanting me to make my decision independently. I knew that I wanted to be in a city because of the opportunities it would provide, but beyond that, I initially had no other criteria. I ended up applying to 16 schools by the end of winter break last year.
I still remember my tour at Boston University. I went with my close friend on Labor Day, right before school started. It was rather low-key since I am local. My parents didn’t wanted to come with us because we had to drive into Boston during morning rush hour, so we just went by ourselves. It was warm and autumnal – so unlike the current weather conditions. I remember loving how big and collegiate, as cliché as that sounds, BU felt and I did see myself amongst the students walking down Comm Ave. I walked away with my biggest problem with BU being that it has a good amount of awkward looking statues strewn all over the place – the smallest complaint in the big scheme of things. However, rather than considering BU early on, I just kind of put it in the back of my mind and amongst the schools on my growing list on the Common App website.
I applied to another New England school early decision. I could never really explain why I chose to apply to that school; now, I realize that it was because my high school had told me that I couldn’t get in and I was being stubborn. When I got my rejection letter – well, email – in early December, at the same time everyone else was hearing back from his or her, assumedly, first-choice schools, I was relieved. I hadn’t been honest enough with myself throughout the early half of the process, and I knew that upon receiving my news. Everyone else seemed to be elated or devastated during that week if he or she had chosen to apply early decision. That week was definitely the hardest week of my senior year because of the quantity of emotions, and subsequent aftershocks.
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I knew I was going to go to BU when I received my decision in late March. I burst into tears upon reading the “Congratulations” at the beginning of the email. I had felt almost nothing involving my other decisions – both good and bad ones. Afterwards, I couldn’t get BU out of my mind. I tried to continue into the decision process with an open mind, to consider all my options equally, but deep down, I knew. I dragged my parents, through rush hour traffic, on another tour of the campus, and they felt it too.
Now that I have been at BU for 6 months, I know that I made the best decision for me. I picked based on vibes, which worked for me but it may not for everyone. So here is my one advice for those going through the same decision now: be honest with yourself. If possible, ignore parents’, friends’, peers’, online rankings’ opinions because it is, ultimately, your choice. Your intuition will not lead you wrong if you actually listen to it, unbiased.