picking a college

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: picking a college 🏫 

it’s nearing college commitment time for high school seniors. for some, this moment of deciding on the next few years of your life can be even more stressful than when you were applying for it.

you’ll endlessly mull over financial aid packages vs. prestige vs. accepted program vs. culture vs. location and the list goes on.

there are so many factors to consider — it’s overwhelming, and i get it. hopefully, i’ll be able to reduce some of that anxiety surrounding your decision if this applies to you.

yes, choosing a university/college/pathway for post-secondary is a very important decision and can alter the trajectory of your life. it can alter it, but it doesn’t fix it in place or make it completely irreversible. the university you go to isn’t a guarantee of you making or breaking it, that’s up to you. 🫵 

yes, the right fit might make the path easier, but the path will still be there for you to hike no matter what choice you make. the challenge of choice is a good problem to have, start by knowing you’re in such a great place and no decision will have you signing your life away.

the most common debate i’ve witnessed, and experienced myself, was prestige/exclusivity vs. overall value. prestige tends to open doors automatically, while overall value factors in scholarships, aid, community & culture. it seems like a no brainer to choose overall value, but there’s just something about prestige that we are inevitably drawn to. you could completely hate the culture, be signing up for crippling debt, and be pursuing your second-choice program, and still eagerly click “enroll” on harvard’s acceptance page. ✅ 

this is because of the unlocked doors and opportunity harvard’s name alone brings.

i’m biased towards the overall value choice (if both prestige and overall value line up to the same choice, great!), but neither is bad. i’m a firm believer that enough tenacity and the right community can unlock those doors anyways. prestige gets you on an elevator up to the 3rd floor of a skyscraper. yeah you might have to take the stairs up to floor 3 without a prestigious school powering an elevator for you, but after floor 3, you’re all on the same staircase, climbing up remaining 97 floors.

no decision you make will be the end of the world. it won’t ruin your life nor will it set you up for failure. the worst feeling is making a decision and then regretting it, and that might be your greatest fear. choose wholeheartedly, and don’t look back.

congrats on making it this far! (:

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