I have a few very vivid memories of my own daughter's college search process, including our first visit to Tufts University. Call it a gut instinct, but only minutes into the information session, she and I both knew that this school would be a good fit for her. Alas, she got waitlisted and ended up going elsewhere, but she was so confident in her instincts, that she transferred to Tufts for her sophomore year. She loved every minute of her experience there (of course it didn't hurt that she was a die-hard Red Sox fan).
The problem, I think, is that you expect to get that special feeling and worry if you don't. But it doesn't always happen that way. Perhaps you're a person who can see herself just about anywhere. Perhaps you know you will make the most of any school, big or small. Maybe you know you can make a home in a big city or a more rural countryside. I say good for you! You're flexible, adaptable, and those are great characteristics to have.
Like this article, I think the most thorough college search combines gut feelings with more practical matters. You may walk onto a campus for the first time and be able to picture yourself there, but you also know that scholarships or financial aid plays an important role. Emotionally you may be aware that you need plenty of green space in order to be happy, but you also know that the school has to have an engineering department. Everyone's different, and you have to know what you're looking for in a college.
Once the initial excitement wore off on our Boston visit, we made sure Tufts met most of the objective criteria on my daughter's list, and fortunately, her gut feelings and the must-haves went hand-in-hand. If you do find "the one," take a deep breath and make sure it also meets your more practical needs.
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