Ask An Expert: Where should you apply? Trust your gut!

August 06, 2014

This week’s Wednesday expert advice from Joie Jager-Hyman of College Prep 360 answers:

What are some of the most overlooked factors when choosing which colleges to apply to?

In the course of advising hundreds of students on choosing colleges that will allow them to thrive, I have done a great deal of reading in behavioral economics on the topic of decision making. Namely, how do we make decisions? And, more importantly, how do we make good decisions?

Decision-making has two components: rational and emotional. Let’s take the decision to buy the shirt that you are wearing today. When you went shopping for the shirt, you probably considered the “rational” things first: cost, functionality (whether it is will be appropriate for warm or cold weather), comfort, size, etc. Say you settled on a $20 cotton t-shirt. There are lots of shirts that fit these standards. Something else made you chose the particular shirt you are wearing.

Enter your emotions. Some people call this the “gut instinct.” Without your gut—without that inexplicable instinct that drew you to your shirt—you would never be able to make any decisions about anything.

When it comes to college, the rational component includes things like size, location, cost, prestige, type of major, etc. But what about how a college makes you feel? Do you feel inspired when you are there? Empowered? Successful? Energized? Smart? If so, this is a place you can be happy.

Over the years, almost all the students I work with end up happy at the colleges in which they enroll. The only ones who ever have regrets are those who didn’t listen to their guts. They went for the brand name school in Vermont even though they hate the cold or they listened to their parents and applied to an engineering school even though they wanted to write.

There’s a reason that “trust your gut” is cliché advice. You need both reason and emotion to make good decisions!

Have a question you’d like answered for next week? Submit it HERE on our Contact Us page with the heading “Ask An Expert” in the message box! Read our blog posts discussing factors to consider, what our Admits looked for in a university, and how family members and advisors can help you in your decision.

LAST WEEK’S EXPERT POST: How much weight is put on the SAT and GPA?



Browse Successful Application Files

ssen2019
Rice


Accepted to Rice, Rochester, Case, Emory, Hamilton, Pitt, Union, Miami

Experience applying as daughter of first generation US immigrants. Aspiring physician interested in double majoring in Acting and Cognitive Science.
yujin2023
Brown


Accepted to Brown, Amherst, Duke, Emory, Santa Clara, USC, Pacific, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UC Davis, UC Irvine

Nature lover, STEM nerd. Will likely be late because of who I am as a person.
VivienneEve23
UC Berkeley


Accepted to UC Berkeley, Brown, Claremont (CMC), Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Northwestern, Pomona, Stanford, San Diego, Vanderbilt, UCSC, UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, Cal Poly, Cal Poly Pomona, Washington

UC Berkeley Class of 2020
FeartheLee
Stanford


Accepted to Stanford, Williams, Brown, Pomona, Duke, Bard, Kenyon

Stanford 2019, creative writing and education. Full essays! "Lopsided," less-than-stellar numbers.

New Posts

Winners of the AdmitSee 2020 College Scholarship
Winners of the AdmitSee 2020 College Scholarship
September 30, 2020

We are so excited to announce that for this year’s scholarship, we selected five scholarship winners to maximize the impact of our $5,000 college scholarship prize money....

Load More Posts