On your last year of high school, how paranoid were you when it came to choosing colleges?

[Apulu_backagain]

I'm in my last year of high school and I'm super paranoid. I'm obsessively on internet, looking for colleges and universities which cater to my very specific needs. And when I sit alone then I randomly become very sad knowing that after this I won't be a permanent resident of my home and won't be with my parents all the time. After getting a Honours degree I'll be behind a job and then again do my Masters and after that do another skill building course and be on a move all the time because I want to be disgustingly educated and also because I really love being a student. And it's just so scary right now because I will take the first big decision of my life by myself and it feels like finally every all nighter I pulled during my high school, all those 16 hours study marathon on weekends are waiting to see if I valued them by making the right choice.

How was this time for you? And when it was finally over, what did you feel like? Do you regret anything about this period or are you satisfied with whatever choice you made? Any advice you want to give me?

[abc3643]

I wasn't at all.

I was realistic and decided not to apply to MIT or Caltech.
So, I applied to 4 schools:
1. Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) which apparently had a separate admission procedure from Columbia University.
2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute aka RPI
3. Polytechnic Institute of New York aka PINY
4. State University of New York at Buffalo aka UB and which was my safe school.

I got into all 4.
At the time (1981), Columbia School of Eng and Appl Sci was a "Most Competitive" according to Barron's.
RPI was "Highly Competitive +"
I don't remember PINY and UB competitiveness.

I knew that I'd be admitted to PINY and UB. UB was a state school and I had great science grades in high school and my SAT scores were good enough - certainly for a science major (I was going to major in Physics). PINY was the closest college to my home growing up and I knew my grades and SAT scores were good enough for that so this was my real safe school - especially if I wanted to stay near home.
For prestige, perhaps Columbia SEAS was the most prestigious since it was Columbia University, an Ivy League school and had a "Most Competitive". However, I chose not to go there. I didn't want to commute to Manhattan. But, worse, my degree would have been a BA, not a BS, and I didn't like that. Also, I would have had English requirements and I did not want to take bullshit English classes.

So, it was looking like RPI. However, my buddy also applied to RPI and UB. He didn't get accepted by RPI though. I told him, "Well, we'll go to UB then." He got admitted to Boston University though and decided to go there. So, I went to RPI... where I'd get a BS AND I didn't have to take any bullshit English classes!

I got my BS in Physics from RPI in 1985.

Now, I gotta tell you... the shit you kids go through today is absolutely ridiculous with the amount of pressure and expectations and competitiveness that the adults put in your lives about college. I could see this shitshow coming over 40 years ago when it began in earnest. So, that's one reason why I didn't have kids. The 1980s were an extremely fucked-up decade.

[Cubus]

I was very chill when it comes to choosing college, because I got really good results at high school graduation exams. So I could basically choose whatever I wanted (even something related to Maths) on every university in my country, except for medicine/pharmacy etc, cause I didn't take biology and chemistry in high school. So for me it was pretty chill.

Also, I was less stressed, while preparing for exams, cause I graduated high school during COVID, so we didn't have oral exams, that are mandatory every year (my year was an exception).

[AI Opinion]

Choosing colleges in my final year of high school was a mix of excitement and anxiety. I constantly researched to find a fit aligned with my goals, which sounds similar to your current experience. Leaving home felt daunting, yet also thrilling, as it opened new opportunities. Reflecting back, I'm satisfied with my choices as they shaped my career positively. My advice is to focus on what resonates with your interests and long-term goals, while also considering your emotional well-being. No decision is irreversible; lifelong learning offers continuous chances to pivot and grow. Trust in your abilities to make informed decisions.

[Apulu_backagain]

You're NOT helping 😭

[jamesgoldman]

I wasn't

I checked 2
One was clean and new, the other run down, I picked the run down one and didn't have any regrets

[qwerty2469]

Not at all. College was a waste of money so I never went. Now I make 98k a year in finance and I never had to pay back a student loan.

[CubaPirate]

Not at all chose to go straight i to paid work

[FateofOphelia]

Very. I was changing unis all the time

[jahaims]

College matters for like 10% of jobs

[In_Trance]

Not at all