As most high school seniors know, with December comes the first wave of college decisions. A lot of them will be Early Decision which is binding, though there are many more students still trying to figure out what they’ll be doing next year. My college process was somewhat easy- I visited a school, loved it, was accepted early, and chose to attend (in the end it was between University of Vermont, where I am now, and another school).

For me size was a big deal. At first I thought that I wanted to go to a small liberal arts school. What I thought was my dream school had about 1,600 students, and it wasn’t until I realized just how few that was that I rethought that idea. I had gone to a small school since I was five years old and there was rarely a new face. So after I visited UVM, I realized that it was important to me to be able to look around at any given point and not know everybody there. I felt as though I’d sort of missed out on the opportunity to meet new people in high school, and I wanted that in college.

I also really did not want to be in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t want to have to rely on my school to provide entertainment and I wanted to be able to explore where I lived. I wasn’t totally sold on the idea of city-living, but I absolutely had to have access to something resembling a city. I’m from the suburbs of Philadelphia, and I’ve always been able to just get on a train and be in Center City in twenty minutes, so I wanted at least some access. Burlington, Vermont is technically the biggest city in the state, though the downtown area is basically just one street. It does start to feel a little isolated, but Montreal isn’t too far from here and Burlington is a very active area.

It was important that my school had a good LGBTQ community. By that I mean that not only accepting, but also active. We have so many LGBTQ clubs and affinity groups that I honestly lose count, and I love that. We have a group for LGBTQ people of color, people who identify as gender queer, people who identify as women and another for men, a Jewish LGBTQ group, etc. Basically, there is a club for you, and they all do things around the community.

Obviously academics are important to me, though I think that with many schools it can be as challenging as you want it to be. I go to public school with 10,081 students and 1,896 offered courses. If you’re in school because you’ve been told you have to and you’re just here to graduate and move on with your life, there are classes that aren’t going to be super challenging. But if you’re genuinely interested in learning and taking advantage of your time, you can take courses that challenge you and make you work really hard. It might take a bit of research to figure out exactly which classes are going to fit what you’re looking for in terms of work load, but it’s definitely possible.

This sounds silly, but one of the things that I loved about my school is that they don’t sell disposable water-bottles. They can’t be purchased on campus. I think that that’s great, because I hate water-bottles. They’re terrible for the planet and unnecessary. Instead, all of the water-fountains have nozzles where you can fill your reusable bottle. We also have compost and recycling everywhere that you’d see a normal trashcan, and almost everything is compostable here. It’s all very eco-friendly.

Lastly, I wanted to be able to drive here. It’s not too long of a drive (It usually takes about seven and a half hours), though I take the train home (which is usually about eleven hours with delays). The train isn’t fun at all, but I never have to ship my stuff to or from school which is really nice, and it’s not too far for people to come visit me (which they have!).

I love my school. There’s no cool story about how I found it- they just sent me letters (like every other school) and it worked. But my biggest piece of advice is to visit as many schools as you can just to get a feel of what you really want. Don’t pick a school just because it offers a particular major, because you might end up changing it (though obviously don’t go to a school that doesn’t offer your major.) Be open to other schools that you thought you’d never be interested in because they might offer something surprising. Trust your instincts, and do what makes sense for you. Clearly not every school is financially an option, and I was lucky that the school I love was also one of the least expensive on my list. But look for a school that you love, because ultimately it’s where you’ll be living and learning for the next four years and it will have a big impact on your day-to-day life.