Yes, college is a huge decision

“This really is a huge decision.”  Alyssa, a student from East Lyme High School in East Lyme, Connecticut, noted as we were pondering her early decision choice.  Alyssa had the sensibility to know that choosing between Bowdoin, an excellent small liberal arts college in Maine, and Barnard, the Columbia-adjacent excellent college in New York City, had implications that were significant beyond the colleges’ rankings.   She then said something quite profound: “Most of my choices are really small.  This one feels different.”

College choice goes so far beyond the rankings that I have to suppress laughter when I hear someone say that where one attends college doesn’t matter.  Living in Manhattan is “slightly different” than living in rural Maine – ha!  Moreover, the type of students who attend Barnard is quite different than those who attend Bowdoin.  Further, those who attend Bowdoin are more likely to stay in Boston/New England and those who attend Barnard are more likely to stay in New York.  These differences matter.  Profoundly.

I spend more time than most pondering the human condition.  I think about the choices we make and how they eventually affect our lives.

The whole issue of “college choice” is personally sacred to me not so much from providing college counseling for the last decade plus but because I met my wife in college.  A long happy marriage, three children, and…. much of my life… can be traced back to my choice of where to attend college.

College is a big life choice.  Some part, of course, is not a choice as college admission factors into the mix.  But it matters.  A lot.