School of Thought: The perfect fit

Written by David Schwartz
Thursday, 23 April 2009 11:26

It’s the beginning of the end. College acceptances are in, and most seniors are trying to make a decision among colleges. With another excellent year of John Jay college admissions, many of us have some difficult choices to make. Right now, I’m sitting in a hotel room looking out at a campus trying to do just that. I know that my choice could very well affect the rest of my life. With so many good options, how am I supposed to make such a tough decision?

Our teachers, parents, and guidance counselors often speak of the so-called “perfect fit” college. The visit to said college starts out with a love at first sight kind of response; admissions Web sites are filled with stories of students who knew that a school was right for them the minute they strolled down a certain street or stepped inside a historic building. Supposedly, some people say, there is a perfect school out there for everyone just waiting to be found or stumbled upon in a random college guidebook. The “perfect fit” isn’t necessarily evident on paper or in a book, but rather results from an indescribable feeling deep within. It is a thing of beauty.

Unfortunately, for most of us, we never experience this perfect feeling or love at first sight. It is something that I have never felt visiting a school, and it is something that only a couple of my friends can say they have experienced. For the rest of us, we must resort to other measures to decide on a school. Some rely upon pure statistics and rankings, while others look at more subjective measures like social life or dorm quality. For some, an obvious choice becomes apparent. However, the toughest choices come when, even after extensive analysis, there is still no clear choice as to where one should spend the next four years.

Then, what is a senior to do? A common joke among college applicants is that some people decide on colleges by simply throwing a dart at a map of schools and going to the place where the dart lands. This idea is laughed at by students and scoffed at by parents and guidance counselors. However, the more I’ve thought about it, this may be a better way to decide than we think.

After all, with only a few exceptions, students find their niche in whatever college they are at, large or small, academic or sports focused. Every college that we get into has unique elements, and both pros and cons. It seems ridiculous to make such a major decision based upon a Web site or a few hours-long campus tour, where elements like the weather or the quality of the tour guide may have a larger influence on us than the schools themselves. While it is something that we may never do, making a random college choice may be better than the hours of stress that many seniors put into the decision. After all, no matter where we choose to attend, we’ll all be college students next fall. And that’s something far more exciting than the hour-long information session I’ll be attending tomorrow.{sharethis}