Your Final College Decision

The first day of spring!  You know what that means....colleges have only 10 more days to keep you in suspense, and final acceptance or, sadly, non-acceptance letters will arrive.  If you applied Early Action or Early Decision, this is old news.  If you are accepted to your dream school, congratulations!  But what if your dream school didn't take you, yet you are accepted to several schools and can't decide?  First of all, take pride in knowing that you are now in a "buyer's" position...the cards are in your hands -  finally.  Remember that you have until April 30 to choose where you will attend.  Take your time.  If possible, revisit (and definitely, visit if you haven't yet) the schools that want you.  If that isn't possible, revisit their websites and sites such as College Prowler and College Confidential that go straight to student opinions, and read about your schools in The Fiske Guide to Colleges (just hang out in Barnes and Noble for 30 minutes). If you applied for financial aid (and you should have!) carefully compare your financial aid offers on a site such as www.finaid.org/calculators to see which offer is really the best.  Think about which college is REALLY where you want to go....set aside it's name and selectivity and think about LIVING there for FOUR YEARS.....once everything feels right, make your final decision, and be sure to send in your enrollment deposit before May 1st!!! You can actually accept at more than one school (unless you applied Early Decision) but you can only attend one, so plan on losing the deposit at the school you don't attend.