There are exactly 17 days until May 1.  Some of you underclassmen or extremely clueless seniors may be wondering, what’s so important about May 1? Well, it marks the national deadline for students to committ to a college.  So, for those of you who have yet to decide, there are exactly 17 days, somewhere around 400 hours, and about 25,000 some odd minutes to go.  Yeah, the pressure’s on, buddy.

The truth is that choosing a college is probably one of the most difficult decisions that any of us will make throughout our entire high school careers.  I’m not trying to say that we don’t face a bunch of tough choices in high school, but, in reality, choosing a college means choosing where to spend the next four plus years of our lives.  Not even to mention that we’re choosing the major(s) that will most likely determine the career path we choose.  AKA we’re chosing how we’ll spend the rest of our lives, right now.

Seniors, most of us have already committed to our schools.  It seems like everytime I log onto Facebook, I see someone new changing their education on Facebook from Niles West to a bunch of different colleges from all across the country.  Juniors, next week marks the national ACT test, so I’m sure that college is on your mind just as much as it is for us seniors who are either in the process of committing or are busy planning for next year.  For that reason, I’d like to share just a few bits of advice that I think might be helpful for your process of choosing a college.

First of all, start early.  I cannot being to explain how important it is for you guys to start researching as soon as possible.  I honestly think that sophomores should be researching colleges by now too.

Assess your values.  Do you want to stay home to be close to your family or do you want to go to a college so far away that you need an airplane to come home for the holidays?  Do you want to attend a college with religious affiliations?  Do you want to be at a small school or a big school?  Is it important that your college has a good football team?  Do you want to be a part of a sports team?  It’s important to be open to a variety of schools, but you also need to be realistic because I’m sure you don’t want to fill out (or pay for) twenty college applications.

Start thinking about your major.  You probably have a general idea of what you like by now, so think about how you can turn what you love into a job and pick a major that will allow you to do so.  I love working with kids and ASL, so I’m majoring in Special Education with an emphasis on the hearing impaired.  In addition to that, as you probably assumed by now, I love writing, so I’m also majoring in journalism.  My double major will allow me to work as a Deaf Education teacher and as a journalist as well. If you’re unsure, it is 100% okay not to know what you want to major in yet. You can easily apply to colleges as an undecided major and take a variety of classes until you decide what you want to major in.  An undecided major has two years to declare a major, so you’d have until the end of sophomore year.

Visit, visit, visit!  Not only is it really fun to visit different campuses (especially if you have friends there), but it can also help you decide which college you want to attend.  I remember thinking that Indiana State University was a great college for me because they offered a great special education program and I was eligible for a bunch of scholarships based on my grades and ACT score; I decided to take a tour of the campus and as soon as I got there I realized it wasn’t the college campus for me at all. If I hadn’t decided to visit, I probably wouldn’t have realized it wasn’t a great fit for me until I visited later. Or worse, after spending money on the application or even worse, after I was already a student there.  Visits are fun, easy, and free, so take advantage of it!  Call your best friend or ask your parents to take you and make an event out of it.  Plus, college visits are an excused absence from school, so that’s always a fun break from a monotonous week.

Apply early.  I applied to all of my colleges super early, as in I was done submitting my college applications by October 1, so I already had my acceptance letters while most of my peers were just starting their college applications.

Revisit and reassess.  So, once you’re sitting there holding your variety of acceptance (or rejection) letters, you can reassess where you want to go.  Clearly you can rule out any schools you were rejected from (unless you intend to reapply), but now you can also eliminate your back-up schools or the ones you know there’s no chance you could ever possibly pay for.  For example, I applied to Illinois State University, Bradley University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, and Indiana University.  I applied to Illinois State University and Bradley University as back-up schools, so I was able to rule those out relatively quickly.  Then, I was just focusing on applying for scholarships for the other ones, which brings me to my next point.

Apply for scholarships!  Colleges have so much money set aside for scholarships that a lot of the time, some of the money isn’t even given away because students don’t apply for them.  So, suck it up, write the essay, fill out the form, and be rewarded for it!  Even local businesses around the area give out scholarships for seniors.  For example, my orthodontist even gives out two $1,000 scholarships.

Make your decision.  Take everything into consideration.  Your acceptance offers, your scholarships, your values, your financial situation, your major, and your experiences at the college will all make a difference in your final choice.  Sit down with your parents and have a discussion about where you want to go and what will benefit you the most in the end.  I was dead set that I wanted to go to Indiana University, but then I was offered the Daily Iowan Scholarship from the University of Iowa, so I sat down and talked to my parents.  We came to realize that Iowa was the only school that I could graduate with a degree in what I needed for the job I wanted, so I officially committed to the University of Iowa a few weeks ago.

Most importantly, make sure you’re happy with your choice.  While money is an important factor in college decisions, it should not be the deciding factor.  When you visit, you’ll know whether you can see yourself attending the university or not, so follow your gut and make sure you’re content with your decision.

Best of luck to everyone!  Seniors, congratulations on your choices and I wish you all the best in your future.  Juniors and underclassmen, remember to start early, but also enjoy the process; it shouldn’t be awfully stressful.  Good luck!