Honestly, the best tip to choosing a college and the RIGHT college for you is by following your heart. Look, I could write a long story about how I chose my college and how I am so happy at it today, but in reality, that is irrelevant to you the reader.

We are all different people with different goals, and we all want to achieve something great and different. College is a path that a lot of people choose to go on to achieve that goal, and May 1^st is coming up, so to all of those indecisive people out there, your time is running out.

I know choosing a college can be one of the most stressful processes in the world because there are so many moving pieces. There’s the financial aspect, the social aspect, the actual education part of it, and it can be overwhelming. Especially when there’s a pressing deadline and you can’t make your mind.

My tip is simple, but its way easier said than done for most people. You have to follow your heart, and you have to do some self-reflection and figure out what you actually need in a college. For me, I needed a school that gave me the ability to do some needed self-exploration in life.

On top of that, I needed a school that creates a comfortable environment for people who don’t follow the status quo, but that school still has that community environment for where everyone loves each other. Also, it still has that fun environment of having school pride, but still allows room for people to be different than each other.

My school is a perfect fit for me because it has over 140 majors, 300+ clubs, and a ton of school pride. We all can be ourselves, but we’re joined by this shared love of school pride. However, that’s me and that is who I am as a person.

You are completely different, you could be someone who doesn’t want to have a million on their campus and wants everyone to be exact replicas of each other. That might be the best fit for you, and I won’t judge because it’s not my place. Everyone has different tastes and we should be respectful of that.

Another thing about college is that not many people think about is the rough times, and what the semester will be like. No matter college you choose, there’s a high possibility you might have a rough first semester and hard time adjusting. I did, and I even chose my dream school.

There were many times during my first semester when I thought that I had made a mistake. In reality I didn’t because I was just getting used to being an adult with actual responsibilities. It was this new chapter in my life where I learned so much about myself in such a condensed amount of time that it was overwhelming to me.

With that being said, sometimes people do make mistakes and transferring happens, but my advice is if you’re in that position give it a year if possible. Step out of your comfort zone more, try new things, and see where it takes you. Sometimes a bad semester is an isolated event, and so far, that was been the case for me.

That’s why you follow your heart when choosing a college because not only when you follow your heart will you be confident in the decision. You’ll also be excited to go above and beyond. You’ll want to apply for that job that you don’t think you’ll get, you’ll want to join that cool hipster club that you never would have joined in high school. You’ll do things out of want, not need and that is the coolest feeling in the world.

Ultimately, you have until May 1^st to decide if you haven’t already. My tip: do some self-reflection and follow your heart, the rest will fall into place. I hope this helped!