For One Student, Too Many Choices Made the Decision Tougher

By LAUREN ACZON

I thought I had done everything right. I took the SAT's, attended dance class, edited the high-school yearbook, wrote honest application essays, and fell asleep over my AP homework. I eagerly filled out online Princeton Review quizzes, answering such questions as "Do you prefer vacations near the mountains or the ocean?" and "Would you rather spend an evening with a large groups of casual acquaintances or one very good friend?" in order to find out which campuses I preferred. I narrowed my list of prospective colleges (formed by personal recommendations and attractive catalog blurbs) down to eight top choices and sent off stellar applications with an optimistic, albeit anxious, heart. Yet I still couldn't decide where I wanted to go, where I would feel like I belonged.