It's college committing season, where a ton of high school students are making a pivotal decision in their lives. Committing to a college is a difficult task since it's one of the first life-changing decisions people make. It's the next four years of your life and what jobs look at when you apply. Personally, I'm extremely indecisive and picking a college was an extremely difficult and daunting task. I would be so for a college, but then look at the other colleges I applied to and want to go there instead. After talking to people close to me, I was able to decide where I wanted to be for the next four years.
I applied to four colleges early in my senior year. Three of them were in-state and one of them was out of state. UMass was the out of state college I applied for because the application was waived and I just wanted to see if I could get in. I had no intention of going out of state, but I was open to going to Massachusetts since I absolutely love it there. I also applied to NJIT, Rutgers- New Brunswick, and Stevens. I was accepted into all four, which was a blessing and a curse. The validation was an amazing feeling, but the fact that I had to actually decide where I wanted to go scared me.
Right off the bat, going to UMass was out of the picture. I didn't want to be far from home and being out of state meant it cost more to go there. Although UMass gave a substantial amount of money, it wouldn't balance out the costs of dorming and other expenses. Stevens was the same situation. Although Stevens is an amazing school with a great engineering program, it was out of budget. Stevens also gave a lot of money but compared to Rutgers and NJIT it was way too expensive for me.
Then it was down two. Rutgers and NJIT both had amazing engineering programs and are both the same distance from my house. I visited both colleges to really decide where I wanted to spend the next four years. My brother went to NJIT and had a good time there so my parents and I were partial towards that college. When I visited, I was very impressed with the facilities and all of the labs. NJIT also gave money so I was really looking towards committing to there, but it didn't feel right.
When I visited Rutgers, everything just clicked. I felt like I could spend the next four years there. Although I didn't get any money from Rutgers, I just felt the need to be there and looking back I feel like I made the right decision. I've had a great time at college since Rutgers is so diverse and has so much to offer. I tried my best to have my friends not influence my decision, but we all ended up at Rutgers which has made my first year great.
Although it was logical to pick the college that cost the least, my gut feeling was pushing me towards Rutgers. This article isn't meant to bring down the colleges I denied. Those colleges are great, but they weren't great for me. Some days I get nervous about the student debt I'll acquire, but I'd rather attend a college I'm happy to go to every day than one that I won't enjoy.
