Oh I know too well that go with your gut feeling with colleges! I ended up attending a private college 15 miles away from home that I had never even considered applying to until late fall my senior year. All because it "felt better" than the other three colleges I visited.

I think if a student has in mind the general type of college they want to attend, the choice isn't a life or death one. Are mid-size private Catholic colleges really all that different? That's what all four of my applications were to. I would have gotten a quality education at any of them, and that's the most important part. Same thing, if you know you want a large public university, how different are they really?

I also think that future students don't realize how much they are going to change when they go to school. No one is the same person senior year as they were as incoming freshmen. What first attracted you to a college may not matter to you later on, and you will learn to love things about your college you never knew about before.

That being said, I know many many transfer students who just needed some time to figure out what they really wanted in a college, and that is fine as well!

I am graduating in two weeks, and I'm one of the lucky ones who had the chance to make a no-brainer decision. I received a large music scholarship to a small, nearby community college. I want to stay near home for a little while, so it was easy! I do however know some of my friends who are completely confused about what they are going to do.

My college choice was a disaster... My k-12 school crammed the idea of college down our throats starting in about 7th grade, and by the time I got to senior year, I didn't even want to go to college. I hadn't looked around at different places because the task seemed so daunting, especially since my parents were not much help (I got a lot of "I never went to college, I don't know about all that stuff"...), and the "guidance" counselors at my school wanted to just hand us scholarship applications, then let us figure everything out for ourselves. (Come on--I was only 18... this is a major decision, and I needed some help!)

So I ended up missing the deadlines for most schools, because I never even realized how early I really needed to start exploring my options (somehow this was not mentioned in the crazy "you'll live in a cardboard box without college" propaganda my high school dished out).

Consequently, I ended up at a regional campus for a local university. I stayed there for 2 years, not sure of my major, and hating the school in general (the atmosphere, the classes, the way everyone practically ran to their cars after class, which made it very difficult for me to make any friends).

After my second year I finally found a major I really liked (veterinary technology), and transferred to a school that offered it. I'm currently at that school, and will be finishing up the program this summer. (Unfortunately meaning I will only have an associate's after 4 years in college).

And now that I've decided to continue on after that with pre-vet classes and eventually apply to vet school, I have a whole new dilemma. I could stay at my current school, but there are a couple things keeping me from feeling it is the best option for me. One, it will take at LEAST 2 more years to get the pre-vet classes done, and I still will not be eligible for a bachelor's at that point, whereas if I transfer to another school I'm considering (let's call it school C, I could get the pre-reqs out of the way AND complete a bachelor's in 2 years. Second, the school I'm currently at is a fairly small school, with a very inactive social scene (literally 90% of students go home on the weekends), and I'm feeling very isolated and alone. Not good for someone who has struggled with depression from the age of about 16 or 17, if not earlier... So again I feel I would be better of transfering to school C, since it also happens to be a large state school, with a very active social scene and hundreds of clubs/activities to offer.

So yes, choosing a college is a very hard decision for an 18 year old to make. But no, things will not always be just as good no matter where they end up.

(in case it may for some reason be relevant, I'm currently 21, and in my 4th year of college)