The Process of Elimination

This is the first in a series of posts about the college process by current GPS seniors.  Megan R. does indeed currently have quite a few colleges on her list.
 
      I walked down the stairs this weekend with a heaping pile of mail from colleges around the country, determined to finally eliminate some of it.  As I set it down on the table with a thud, Dad looked up at me in exasperation, saying, “We have to go through all of that?  Well, we better get started.” “Dad,” I told him apologetically, “this is only about a third of the mail.”
      His jaw dropped.  It looked like we had a pretty monstrous task ahead of us.  Thankfully, as we sat at the coffee table and sorted the mail into “Apply,” “Maybe,” and “Don’t Apply” piles, we picked up speed and actually threw away nearly a third of the letters.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is, the other two thirds is still sitting on my bedroom floor awaiting my decision. 
     It’s already September, and if I include the mail plus the schools on my Naviance page, that’s over 40 institutions in total.  Even if I wanted to apply to that many places, there’s no way I physically have time to complete all of those supplements by December 1^st.  How am I supposed to narrow down that list?  Some kids only apply to the Ivies and a safety school or two.  Some kids only apply to a few schools because their parents are forcing them, or because one of them is the home of their favorite football team, or because there’s something extremely specific about one of those schools that the kid absolutely wants to be part of their education.
     My problem is I’m only 17 years old – I don’t know what I want out of my life, much less my education.  Sure, an Ivy League diploma would open a lot of doors for me, but can I get in?  Are there some less competitive schools out there that would appreciate me more, maybe even offer me a merit scholarship? Do I want a core curriculum or an open one?  How important are small classes, or being in the city, or what the dorms and food and students are like?
      To me, this is the most daunting part of the application because I have to figure out what I want out of not just my education, but out of a place where I will be living and hopefully working for the next four years.  These are some of the biggest questions I have ever been faced with, and I still don’t have the answers to many of them.  All I know is that I want to go to a “good” school and get a “good” education so that I can find a “good” job and provide for my family.  Isn’t that what everyone wants?  That’s the American dream right?  Work hard, be successful, happy ending.  Apparently, it’s not that simple. 
      Unfortunately, the list of schools I’m applying to will probably end up being long, but hopefully that means I’ll have more options of where to take the first step on the journey of the rest of my life.  My grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities are what they are already.  All that’s left is to write a few million supplemental essays and see what happens.  Hopefully the next pile of mail that lands on the coffee table with a thump will be a mound of acceptance letters from a bunch of “good” schools.