Eye on the Storm: The Official Undergraduate Admissions Blog of the National Leader in Experiential, Hands-on Learning

When I was in high school I was a little bit of an overachiever, at least when it came to picking a college. No one can really blame me though, everyone just wants to get into their top choice . . .

I looked everywhere to find where I wanted to go, every Web site that my high school gave me to find where I wanted to go, and what we were going to major in. I kinda went a little overboard, and needless to say my parents flipped when I told them that I was going to apply to 32 colleges, and that I needed money for applications.

One night my parents and I decided what we both wanted from a school together, which is smart to do ahead of time, because they normally do help out with the bills. I narrowed my choices to six colleges, plus two my parents liked, that I had no interest in.

I ended my junior year with eight folders, which had everything that all of these colleges had ever sent to me, placed in order of which college I wanted to go to the most, to the least. On top was Siena, followed by Keuka.

You’re probably wondering how I ended up at Keuka, when I wanted Siena. Did I get rejected? Nope, I have only been rejected by SUNY Oneonta. That summer I visited a few of my top choices, with a notebook and a list of expectations, a good idea if you’re indecisive. I visited Siena first, and I fell in love with it. There were flaws, it was too big for me, I wanted something small, and it was too close to home. I got less interested the more I thought about it.

Then I visited Keuka. I’m sure anyone who’s visited Keuka knows that it is beautiful, small, perfect in just about every way. After I visited Keuka, I lost interest in the other colleges, including Siena. Even my mother told me she liked Keuka better than Siena, which really helped to solidify my ideas that Keuka was perfect.

After a few more visits, I started senior year, and applied to five schools the schools my parents wanted me to apply to, and a few others. I never even filled out an application for Siena, because I realized it’s not where I wanted to be. None of the other applications mattered to me except Keuka, once I got accepted in December, and I didn’t apply anywhere else, I achieved what I had wanted the whole time, which was getting into my top choice.